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The Greatest Street 
in the World 

The Story of Broadway, Old and New, from the 
Bowling Green to Albany 



By 
Stephen J 

Member of the Westchester Com. y li. .'^•'»• 

odSi ,YBwbBoi3 ni sr tniW A 

^t([ §niiniBq arfJ i3l^£ ,l3biBiiO yd gnivBigns hb moiT 
noidaS .H 



160 Illustrations and 6 Maps 



New York and London 

Cbe fcnlckcrbccfecr pre^e 

1911 




iST' 



A Winter Scene in Broadway, lifi^ 

From an engraving by Girardet, after the pa,in!" 
H. Sebron 




The Greatest Street 
in the World 

The Story of Broadway, Old and New, from the 
BowHng Green to Albany 



By 

Stephen Jenkins 

Member of the Westchester County Historical Society 



160 Illustrations and 6 Maps 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

Cbe Iknicl^erbocfter press 

1911 



r/zs 

.1.7 



Copyright, 1911 

BY 

STEPHEN JENKINS 



Ube ftnicbecbocbec pcese, l^ew ]?orIt 






CCI.A30014 



THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO 

JOHN W. DAVIS 

DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS OF THE CITY OF 

NEW YORK, IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

OF HIS VALUED ASSISTANCE AND 

ENCOURAGEMENT 




INTRODUCTION 

URING the past ten or more years 
I have been deHvering a lecture in 
New York and elsewhere, which I 
have called "Broadway, Old and 
New, from New York to Albany." 
In this volume, I have expanded 
the lecture to book size. 

Broadway is the longest of the 
modern streets of the world, though it is surpassed 
in length by two of ancient Roman construction: the 
Appian Way from Rome to Brundusium, 350 miles, and 
Watling Street in England, from Dover via London to 
Chester and York, thence in two branches to Carlisle and 
the Wall near Newcastle. These have, however, fallen 
from their high estate ; and of the latter road traces only 
are found in some parts of its course of over three hundred 
miles; remains of the former are sometimes unearthed, 
though a more modern road, built by Pope Pius VI. 
in 1789 parallels the ancient roadway from Rome to 
Albano, nineteen miles northeast of the Eternal City. 

From the beginning of the nineteenth century Broad- 
way has been the main artery of the city, and its growth 
has been an indication of that of the old city upon the 
island of Manhattan. It has become the Mecca toward 
which the eyes of exiled Manhattanites are always turned, 
and they long for a sight of "dear old Broadway." It 



vi Introduction 

represents to them New York — it is the epitome of the 
Hfe of the great metropohs, with its various activities, 
mercantile, social, political, and theatrical. The outsider 
must also see Broadway, if he should visit New York; 
though it is greatly to be feared that the gaiety of the 
thoroughfare is its most potent attraction to him. If you 
are a New Yorker, let me ask you if you have ever been 
away from the city for a few weeks? When you return 
and your footsteps carry you along Broadway, does not 
every face you see — whether man, woman or child — 
have for you so marked a familiarity that you feel as if 
you knew personally each individual, and you have an 
almost overmastering inclination to nod or to say "How 
d' ye do?" to each one you pass? In other words, you 
feel at home, or like Micawber, that "your foot is on your 
native heath," I sometimes wonder if the naturalized 
New Yorker ever experiences the same feeling. I do not 
believe he does. 

I think I am right in calling it "the greatest street in 
the world." There are famous streets in the other great 
cities of the world, but none that shows such wealth for 
so great a distance. It is said that when the famous Field 
Marshal Bliicher rode in triumphal procession through 
the streets of London after the battle of Waterloo he gazed 
about him in astonishment, and, true to his upbringing 
as a soldier of Frederick the Great and the military 
canons of the time, exclaimed: '^Gott in Himmel! Vot 
a magnificent city to sack!" If we could suppose the 
doughty old warrior transported to New York and driven 
over her great thoroughfare, we can readily believe that 
words would fail him. 

The question is often asked whether New York will 
ever be finished. It does not seem so, for there is such 
continual tearing down and building up. This has been 



Introduction vii 

a marked feature of Broadway since the days of the Dutch. 
It is, perhaps, a sign of financial progress and wealth — 
the desire to have something better than there was before. 
But it has its unpleasant side if we judge from the senti- 
mental point of view ; for old and historic landmarks have 
disappeared. Of course, if some of these had been pre- 
served, it would have been expensive toll to pay for senti- 
ment, and we are a practical people and inclined to say 

with Sir Peter Teazle : " D sentiment." Then again, 

our population is so mixed with foreign elements that 
historic associations have played but little part when 
utility has required change or demolition. 

In writing this volume, I have tried to be as accurate 
as possible, and where there has been doubt to give that 
statement which has the greatest authority. A biblio- 
graphy will be found at the end of the volume; and 
I wish here to acknowledge the obligations I am under 
to the Lenox, Astor, Society, Mechanics, New York 
Historical Society and Mount Vernon public libraries, 
and especially to the private library of District Super- 
intendent of Schools, John W. Davis; also to many 
individuals, both in public positions and private life, 
to whom I have addressed inquiries which have always 
been courteously answered. 



Stephen Jenkins. 



Mount Vernon, New York, 
January, 191 1. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — The Dutch Heere Straat . . . . i 

II. — The Fort and the Bowling Green . . 12 

III. — Broadway to Wall Street ... 31 

IV. — From Wall Street to the Commons . . 58 

V. — -The Commons, or Fields .... 84 

VI. — The City Hall Park 109 

VII. — From the Park to Canal Street . . 132 

VIII. — From Canal Street to Union Square . 171 

IX. — Places of Amusement below Union Square 192 

X. — From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 220 

XI. — From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 

Street ....... 262 

XII. — From Ninety-Sixth Street to One Hundred 

AND Sixty-Eighth Street . . . 297 

XIII . — From One Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Street 

TO KiNGSBRIDGE ..... 324 



X Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIV. — The Borough of the Bronx and Lower 

Westchester County .... 343 

XV. — Upper Westchester County . . . 373 

XVI. — Putnam and Dutchess Counties . . 405 

XVII. — Columbia and Rensselaer Counties . . 436 

Bibliography ..... . . 469 

Index ......... 475 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

A Winter Scene in Broadway, i860, Showing the 
Broadway Sleighs .... Frontispiece 

From an engra\-ing by Girardet, after the painting by H. Sebron. 

Map of New York in 1642, Drawn "from the Best 

Data in his Possession" by D. T. Valentine . 5 

Broad Street Canal ...... 7 

Map of the Original Grants of Village Lots from 
THE Dutch West India Company to the Inhabi- 
tants OF New Amsterdam, 1642 . . .10 

Southwest View of the City of New York . . 13 

From William Russell's History of America, vol. ii., London, 
1778, opposite p. 270. Also a copy on a smaller scale engraved 
by J. Carwitham (between 1737 and 1741). Carwitham was 
in his prime about 1740. Reproduced in Valentine's Manual 
for 1858 by Hay ward of New York. 

Firemen at Work in 1800 . . . . . 20 

From Valentine's Manual. 

Pulling down the Statue of George III. . . 23 

From an old print. 

Government House ...... 26 



xii Illustrations 



" Steamship Row " AND THE Bowling Green . . 29 

A Plan of the City of New York from a Survey by 

James Lane ....... 30 

^ Prepared by William Bradford. 

Havemeyer Mansion in i 861, between Fifty-Eighth 
,/\ and Fifty-Ninth Streets and Eighth and Ninth 

X^ ' Avenues ........ 33 

From Valentine's Manual for 1861. 

"The Duke's Plan." A Description of the Town 

OF New Amsterdam in 1664 .... 40 

The King's Arms, Atlantic Gardens, in 1765 . . 46 

From Valentine's Ma^tual for 1856. 

Broadway AND Bowling Green in 1910 ... 49 

Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. 

The Bunker Mansion on Broadway, 1830 . . 51 

From Valentine's Manual. 

Broadway and Cortlandt Street . . , -59 

From Valentine's Manual for 1859. 

City Hotel, Trinity and Grace Churches, Broad- 
way, IN 183 I . . . . . . .65 

From a drawing by A. Dick. 

The Singer Building ...... 69 

From a photograph by Geo. P. Hall & Son. 
St. Paul's Chapel in 1875 ..... 73 

From an etching by Eliza Greatorex 

The Loew Bridge at Fulton Street and Broadway 79 
View from the Steeple of St. Paul's Chapel, 1849 81 

From the drawing by J. W. Hill. 



Illustrations xiii 



Peter Stuyvesant's Army Entering New Amster- 
dam ......... 82 

From the drawing by William Heath, London. (From Irving's 
Knickerbocker's History of New York.) 

The Collect ........ 85 

The Execution of a Negro on the Commons . . 87 

Redrawn from an old print. 

Sketch Plan of the Commons in 1742 ... 89 

Based on the drawing by David Grim. 

The Provost British Prison ..... 91 

The Hall of Records ...... 93 

From the drawing by F. B. Nichols. 

The American Hotel at the Corner of Barclay 
Street, and Philip Hone's Residence at 235 
Broadway ....... 99 



A View of City Hall Park, Looking North, about 
1830 

City Hall Park in 1827 . 

The Nathan Hale Statue in City Hall Park 

City Hall ....... 

The Rotunda in City Hall Park — 1852 . 



Ill 

113 
120 
123 
127 



The North End of City Hall Park, Showing 

Scudder's Museum, 1825 ..... 130 

The Astor House between Vesey and Barclay 

Streets ........ 138 

The Seventh Regiment Marching down Broadway 141 

(Thomas Nast — Original in 7th Regt. Armory.) 

Broadway Stages ....... 143 



xiv Illustrations 



New York Hospital, about 1800. Broadway Oppo- 
site Pearl Street . . . . .151 

Washington Hall in 1828 . . . . - 153 

From Valentine's History of Broadway. 

East Side of Broadway, between Duane and Pearl 

Streets, in 1807 . . . . . .161 

Masonic Hall, on the East Side of Broadway, be- 
tween Duane and Pearl Streets, 1830 . . 163 

Apollo Rooms in 1830 . . . . • . 165 

Lispenard's Meadows, Taken from the Site of the 

St. Nicholas Hotel, Broadway . . . 172 

Drawn by A. Anderson, 1785. 

The Stone Bridge at Canal Street . . .173 

From Valentine's Manual, 1857. 

Grace Church at the Corner of Tenth Street anl 

Broadway . . . . . . .180 

St. Thomas's Church, Corner of Broadway and 

Houston Street, Erected in 1823 . . . 182 

Broadway Tabernacle, between Worth Street and 

Catherine Lane, on the East Side of Broadway 184 

Broadway at Canal Street in t86a. . . .185 

Broadway AND Grand Street . .... 186 

Drawn by Eliza Greatorex. 

Broadway and Bleecker Street . . . .188 

Drawn by Eliza Greatorex 

Contoit's Garden in 1830 ..... 195 

Redrawn from an old print. 



Illustrations xv 

PAGE 

Burning OF Barn um's Museum IN 1865 . . . 197 

NiBLo's Garden, Showing Tents .... 202 

The Metropolitan Hotel at Prince Street . . 203 

Tripler's Hall, or Metropolitan Hall, 1854 . 206 

Wallack's (Star) Theatre, View from Fourth 

Avenue ........ 209 

Redrawn from an old print. 

Broadway Theatre, East Side of Broadway, be- 
tween Pearl and Worth Streets, 1850 . .212 

Harrigan & Hart's New Theatre Comique . -215 

Junction of Broadway and the Bowery . .221 

The Statue of Lafayette in Union Square . . 224 

The West Side of Union Square in 1897 . . 225 

Buck's Horn Tavern, Twenty-Second Street and 

Broadway, in 18 12 . . . . . 233 

From Valentine's Manual, 1864. 

The Site of the Flatiron Building . . . 235 

M.\dison Square Park and Garden . . . 237 

Franconi's Hippodrome, Twenty-Third vStreet and 

Broadway ....... 239 

The Corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Third 

vStreet, 1852 ....... 240 

On this site now stands the Fifth Av'enue Building. 

Fifth Avenue Hotel at Twenty-Third Street . 241 

From a photograph. 



xvi Illustrations 



PAGE 



The West Side of Madison Square Showing the 

Worth Monument ...... 245 

The Naval Memorial Arch and Colonnade, 1899, 

Broadway and Fifth Avenue .... 246 

The Varian Tree in Broadway between Twenty- 
Sixth and Twenty-Seventh Streets, 1864 . 247 

From Valentine's Manual, 1864. 

The Old Varian House, Bloomingdale Road . . 249 

From Valentine's Manual, 1856. 

Herald Square at the Junction of Broadway and 
Sixth Avenue, Showing the Herald Building in 
the Centre ."..... 253 
Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. 

Night Scene on the " Great White Way," Looking 

toward the times building from hotel astor 257 

Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. 

The Times Building at Forty-Second Street . . 263 

Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. 

Havemeyer Mansion in 1861, between Fifty-Eighth 
and Fifty-Ninth Streets and Eighth and Ninth 
Avenues ........ 265 

Valentine's Manualior 1861. 

The Hopper House at Broadway and Fiftieth 

Street ........ 267 

From an etching by Eliza Greatorex. 

The New Broadway Tabernacle .... 271 

The Old Halfway House at the Junction of Broad- 
way, Eighth Avenue, and Fifty-Ninth Street . 273 

From Valentine's Manual, 1864. 



Illustrations xvii 



PAGE 



The Columbus Monument at Fifty-Ninth vStreet . 275 
Squatter Settlement — 1858 ..... 277 

Redrawn by William J. Wilson from an old lithograph. 

At the Junction of Broadway and Sixty-Sixth 

Street ........ 281 

Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. 

The Somerindyke Estate on Bloomingdale Road, 

near Seventy-Fifth Street . . . .284 

From Valentine's Manual, 1863. 

The Apthorpe Mansion, Bloomingdale . . . 285 
The Church at Bloomingdale .... 289 

Drawn by Eliza Greatorex. 

Burnham's Mansion House, 1835 .... 293 

Redrawn from Valentine print. 

The Old Abbey Hotel on Bloomingdale Road, 1847 296 

From Valentine's Manual, 1864. 

Residence of the Post Family, now Claremont 
Hotel, Bloomingdale Road, near Manhattan- 
viLLE, i860 ....... 299 

From Valentine's Manual, 1861. 

Grant's Tomb, Riverside Drive .... 301 
Columbia Library and Campus .... 303 

Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. 

Tablet in Wall of Engineering Building, Columbia 

University . . . . -304 

The Suspension Bridge at Trinity Cemetery, 
Broadway and One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth 
Street . . . . . . -311 



xviii Illustrations 



PAGC 



The Audubon Estate on the Banks of the Hudson, 
Foot of One Hundred and Fifty-Sixth Street 
AT Carmansville . . . . , -313 

From Valentine's Manual, 1865. 

The Roger Morris, or Jumel, Mansion . . . 318 

Trees and Stone Wall Markinc; the West Side of 
Old Bloomingdale Road, 19C6. Looking South- 
west from Broadway at 124TH Street. Grant's 
Tomb in Distance ...... 320 

The Crossed Keys Tavern ..... 322 

Drawn by Eliza Greatorex. 

Northwest Corner of Broadway and One Hundred 
and Ek.hty-First Street, Opposite Holyrood 
Chapel ........ 325 

From a photograph. 

Broadway at Dyckman Street, Inwood, Showing the 

Palisades in the Distance .... 327 

From a photograph. 

Farmers' Bridge ....... 329 

Courtesy of the Department of Bridges, New York City. 

Strang House, Old Dyckman Home, Broadway and 

Two Hundred and Ninth Street . . . 330 

The Blue Bell Tavern ...... 333 

Old King's Bridge ...... 335 

Courtesy of the Department of Bridges, New York City. 

Kingsbridge and Spuyten Duyvil Creek before it 

was Filled in . . . . . 338 

Century House, near Spuyten Duyvil Creek, 

Harlem River, 1861 ..... 340 



Illustrations xix 

FACE 

Old KiNCiSBRiDGE Hotel. A Popular Road-House 

OF Former Days ...... 342 

The Godwin, formerly the Macomb House, Kings- 
bridge ........ 347 

From a photograph. 

Van Cortlandt Mansion in Van Cortlandt Park . 349 

Van Cortlandt Park. The Dam and Mill . -351 

Van Cortlandt Park. Ruins of Old Mill. Removed 

IN 1903 352 

Monument on Indian Field, Van Cortlandt Park . 354 

Yonkers, Getty Square, Hollywood Inn, and St. 

John's Church ...... 356 

Philipse Manor-House, Yonkers .... 358 

From a photograph. 

Philip Van Brugh Livingston House, Headquarters 

of Washington, Dobbs Ferry .... 362 

From a photograph. 

Washington Irving ...... 365 

From the etching by J. D. SmilHe. 

" Sunnyside," Irvington ..... 367 

Lyndehurst, Home of Miss Helen M. Gould 370 

Historical Sketch Map of King's Bridge, 1645-1783 372 

Compiled by Thomas Henry Edsall. 

Monument to the Captors of Andre . . . 374 

From a photograph by F. Ahrens. 

The Capture of Andre ...... 379 

From a print in the possession of Dr. Coutant. 



XX Illustrations 

PAGE 

Upper Mills of Frederick Philipse (1682), North 

Tarrytown ....... 3«o 

Philipse's Castle. North Tarrytown . . . 382 

Sleepy Hollow Church at North Tarrytown . 383 

Van Cortlandt Manor-House, Croton-on-Hudson 389 

Peekskill Bay . . . . . . - 391 

RoA Hook, State Camp ...... 393 

Photo by H. H. Pierce. 

The Seth Pomeroy Monument at Cortlandtville . 396 

St. Peter's Church and Paulding Monument at 

Cortlandtville ...... 398 

Dusenberry's Tavern, Cortlandtville, N. Y. . 400 

Annsville Creek — Where Broadway Enters the 

Highlands ....... 402 

Anthony's Nose, from South, Looking from Iona 

Island ........ 403 

Division Map of the Highland Patent of Adolphus 

Philipse ........ 406 

The Beverly House ...... 408 

Courtesy of Putnam County Historical Society. 

Undercliff, the Home of the Poet Morris . -413 

From an old print. 

Trinity Episcopal Church, Erected 1769, atFishkill 414 
The First Reformed Dutch Church, Fishkill 416 



Illustrations xxi 

PAGE 

The Old Grist-Mill at Brinckerhoff near Fishkill, 
OVER One Hundred and Thirty Years Old. 
Erected by Soldiers during the Revolution 

and still in Use . . . . 417 

The Wharton House, Fishkill .... 419 

The Teller House, Matteawan .... 420 

The Verplanck Mansion at Fishkill Landing . 421 

Wappingers Falls ...... 422 

College Hill, Poughkeepsie ..... 423 

The Van Kleeck House ..... 424 

Thompson Memorial Library, Vassar College, 

Poughkeepsie ....... 426 

Main Building, Vassar College .... 427 

The Cantilever Bridge over the Hudson River at 

Poughkeepsie ....... 429 

House Built by William K. Ludlow, 1786, now in 
Possession of his Great-Grandson, R. Fulton 

Ludlow, Claverack, N. Y. . . . . 443 

Blue Store ........ 446 

City of Nieu Orange as Sketched in 1673 . . 447 

Reformed Church, Claverack. Erected a.d. 1767 448 

Linden WALD, the Martin Van Buren Mansion . 449 

The Van Buren Monument, Kinderhook . -451 

The Old Centennial House, or Van Schaack 

Mansion ....... 453 



xxii Illustrations 

PAGE 

The Modern Flying Dutchman — "The Albany " . 455 

Stuyvesant Falls ...... 456 

Toll-Gate, Hudson, N. Y 457 

The Old Court House, Claverack, N. Y. . . 460 

Fort Cralo Mansion, Rensselaer .... 462 

Plan of Albany, 1695 ...... 463 

A View of Albany from the Bridge . . . 464 

The Governor's House, Albany .... 465 

The City Hall, Albany ..... 467 

Sketch Map Showing Broadway from the Battery 

TO Albany ...... at end 

Drawn by William J. Wilson. 



The Greatest Street in the World 



THE GREATEST 
STREET IN THE WORLD 



CHAPTER I 



THE DUTCH HEERE STRAAT 




N the fourth of October, 1609, Henry 
Hudson, having finished the explo- 
ration of the river which bears his 
name, set sail for Europe and win- 
tered in the port of Dartmouth, 
England. From this point, he sent 
accounts of his voyage to his em- 
ployers, in which he named the 
newly explored river the Mauritius, in honor of Prince 
Maurice of Orange. Several merchants at once began the 
fitting out of a vessel to take advantage of Hudson's 
discoveries. This vessel sailed in the following year 
(1610), and it is said that it was commanded by Juet, 
Hudson's mate on the Half-Moon. 

This voyage must have been of advantage to its 

* Between the Bowling Green and Vesey Street, Broadway has been 
called at various times in old documents De Heere Wagh Wegh, the Broad 
Wagon Way, the Common Highway, and the Great Public Road. 



2 The World's Greatest Street 

backers, for we find that the United Netherlands Com- 
pany was formed for the purposes of trade with this new 
land. From this time forth, a succession of voyages fol- 
lowed under such commanders as Christiensen, May, 
Block, De Witt, and Volckertsen. While these expedi- 
tions ascended the river as far as the influx of the Mo- 
hawk — the heart of the fur trade with the Indians — 
Manhattan Island was made the chief depot of the trade, 
and Christiensen was made the agent of the Company 
for the traffic in furs, A small fort was built on Castle 
Island in the river near Albany, and another on Man- 
hattan Island with a few rough, bark huts near it. This 
fort was a small block-house surrounded by a stockade. 
It stood at the junction of Tiiyn, or Garden Street (Ex- 
change Place) and the present Broadway — approximately, 
at 39 Broadway. 

In the fall of 1613, Adrian Block lost one of his vessels, 
the Tiger, by fire; and he and Christiensen built several 
huts for the accommodation of their crews and spent the 
winter of 1613-14 upon the island of Manhattan. The 
site of these huts is marked by a tablet erected by the 
Holland Society upon the front of the building occupied by 
the Hamburg-American Line at 41-45 Broadway. These 
habitations are said to have been the first erected by 
Europeans upon the island of Manhattan, and the date 
is that usually given for the first settlement of New York. 
They were probably the huts of 1612 repaired for winter 
use, being contiguous to the small fort, or block-house, 
mentioned above. The crews were engaged during the 
winter in building a vessel to replace the one lost by fire. 
The new vessel was called the Onrest, or Restless. In it 
Block made explorations through Long Island Sound as 
far as the island which bears his name, whence he crossed 
to the northern shore and explored Narragansett Bay. 



The Dutch Heere Straat 3 

These earlier voyages were conducted by traders, who, 
having bartered with the Indians for furs and pelts, 
returned each year to Holland; unless through some 
accident, as with Block and Christiensen, they were 
obliged to stay through the winter. 

The charter of the United Netherlands Company 
expired January i, 161 8; but special licenses to trade 
were granted by the States-General until the formation 
of the West India Company, June 3, 1621. This com- 
pany was formed principally through the efforts of Willem 
Usselinx, a far-sighted patriot and statesman, who had 
been urging the colonization of the newly explored lands 
ever since Hudson's report of his voyage had reached 
Holland, with its description of the richness and produc- 
tiveness of the country. The formation of the West 
India Company had three objects primarily in view: 
first, an immediate source of revenue to the State to aid 
in supporting the war then waging with Spain; second, 
to colonize the lands which held out so many prospective 
rewards to the colonizers ; third, to establish a permanent 
colony in America as an offset to the Spanish colonies, 
and as a base at which the Dutch vessels could fit out 
and from which they could sail to pounce upon the richly 
laden galleons of Spain on their homeward voyages from 
Mexico, South America, and the West Indies. 

In pursuance of these plans, a number of colonists, 
provided with tools, cattle, and other requisites, were sent 
out in several vessels and settled near the site of Albany 
in the first half of May, 1624. It was not until the spring 
of 1626 that a permanent, agricultural colony under 
Director Peter Minuits was established upon Manhattan 
Island; though it must not be forgotten that the island 
had been occupied as a trading post for several years 
before this. 



4 The World's Greatest Street 

In 1 841, Dr. Brodhead visited Holland on behalf of 
the State of New York for the purpose of examining and 
codifying the ancient records relating to the Dutch 
occupation of New Netherland. He found that a great 
mass of the earliest documents and archives had been 
sold at auction as worthless lumber twenty years before 
his visit; and these priceless papers have probably 
disappeared forever. From the year 1638 onwards, how- 
ever, there are pretty full records, as the correspond- 
ence between the West India Company and its agents 
was very voluminous; and the reports of the directors- 
general and the petitions of the inhabitants of New 
Netherland against the tyranny and exactions of the 
company's representatives to their "Illustrious High- 
Mightinesses," the States- General, and other matters 
relating to the colony had been preserved. All of these, 
as well as similar papers in the possession of the State of 
New York, have been translated and codified by Brod- 
head, O'Callaghan, and their successors in the offices of 
state archivist and state historian ; and the work is still in 
progress. The very earliest history of Manhattan is, 
therefore, largely traditional and conjectural. 

The Company built a fort at the lower end of the 
island, and about this clustered the houses of the first 
settlers ; these were rude affairs of bark. Later, there was 
expansion along the shore of the East River as the set- 
tlers began to cultivate their bouweries, or farms. When 
Director-General Kieft massacred Indians at Pavonia 
and on Long Island and brought about the Indian wars 
of 1 64 1, and later, the people were obliged to flee from 
the outlying farms to the protection of the fort in order to 
escape death or bondage at the hands of the redskins. 
As it was, their cattle were killed, and their houses de- 
stroyed, while many of the men were tomahawked, 



The Dutch Heere Straat 5 

and the women and children carried into captivity. 
The annals of these Indian wars teem with horrors — 
of the two belligerents, it appears that the Dutch were 
the more savage. 




MAP OF NEW YORK IN 1642, DRAWN " FROM THE BEST DATA IN HIS 
possession" by D. T. VALENTINE 



There was at first no order in which the houses were 
built. Each settler "squatted" wherever he pleased, his 
one desire being to get as close to the fort as possible. 
He built his house and cultivated his garden ; and after a 
period of occupancy, usually six years, received from the 
Company the grond brief, or patent, for his land. The 
first grant of land was probably that made in 1636 or 1637 



6 The World's Greatest Street 

to Roelof Jansen of a tract of sixty-two acres on the west 
side of Broadway, extending from Warren Street to 
Christopher. It was not until 1642 that any grants were 
made of town lots; and it was not until the following 
year that such grants were made on the Heere Straat. 
These were principally on the east side, as the west 
side was taken up with the burying -ground (Morris 
Street) , the garden, and the orchard of the Company, the 
Company's bouwerie, and the country places of Vander- 
grift and Van Dyke. In 1631, a windmill for the use of 
the town was erected on the Heere Straat between the 
present Liberty and Cortlandt streets. 

On account of this "squatting" of the first settlers, 
there grew up that irregularity of streets which distin- 
guishes to-day the lower parts of the city of New York. 
Streets were unknown in those early days; but about the 
time of the first grants two streets leading from the fort 
seem to have formed themselves by common consent; 
one, the Heere Straat, which followed a ridge of land 
northward through the Company's farms and fields, the 
other, a street leading along the shore of the East River, 
which became the Great Queen Street of the English and 
the Pearl Street of the present. It was along this latter 
street that the settlement grew away from the fort, hav- 
ing its greatest density of houses and population in Blom- 
maert's Vly, through which flowed a sluggish stream 
that drained the swamp near the Heere Straat. As 
early as 1638, it appears that measures were taken to 
drain this marsh, but it was not until 1643 that an arti- 
ficial ditch was constructed to carry off the swamp water. 
At first, a roadway twenty-five or thirty feet wide was 
left on the west side only; but in 1657-59, arrangements 
were made with the landholders on the eastern side, and a 
similar width of roadway was secured on that side also. 



8 The World's Greatest Street 

At the same time, the ditch was deepened and widened 
and its sides sheathed with planks, so that it became a 
canal through which the tide ebbed and flowed almost to 
Beaver Street. Here were conditions and surroundings 
with which the Dutchman was familiar ; he was reminded 
of home, and this section became the most desirable and 
thickly settled on the island. The street was called 
De Heere Graft; in English days and our own, Broad 
Street. By 1676 the ditch had become so unsanitary 
that Governor Andros ordered that the street be filled 
up, and the ditch became a covered sewer as far south 
as the bridge (Bridge Street). 

From the very beginning of the Dutch occupation, 
differences arose between them and the English as to the 
ownership of the land. It is stated that as early as 1614, 
Captain Argall, while returning from his eastern ex- 
plorations, stopped at Manhattan Island, and made the 
traders whom he found there acknowledge the supremacy 
of Virginia and pay quit-rent for the privilege of trading 
in the valley of the Hudson; and Captain Thomas Der- 
mer, the first Englishman to sail through Long Island 
Sound is known to have stopped at the Manhadoes in 
161 9. There were constant disputes with Connecticut 
over the boundary line between the two colonies — a 
dispute that was handed down to our own time, for it 
was not until 1879 that the two States interested finally 
came to an agreement which was ratified by the Congress 
of 1880-81. 

In 1654, some English from Connecticut, probably in 
furtherance of that colony's claim to all the land as far 
as the ocean, settled on Westchester Creek, in what is 
now the Borough of the Bronx. Director Stuyvesant, 
and his council, fearing further encroachments by the 
English upon the land of New Netherland, and even upon 



The Dutch Heere Straat 9 

New Amsterdam itself, sent an expedition to arrest the 
audacious intruders, and also during the same year, 
caused a palisade to be built from the East River to 
the Hudson. This palisade, or wall, was regularly 
patrolled by the soldiers of the Company, and several 
falcons were distributed along its length. Two gates 
gave egress and ingress; one being located at the upper 
end of the Heere Straat, called De Landt Poorte, or land 
gate ; the other, the more important of the two, called the 
water gate, at the shore of the East River. The land 
gate was opposite where Trinity Church now stands and 
gave access to the Vlacte, or pasture; the water gate 
gave access to the ferry to Brooklyn, to Allerton's ware- 
house, and to the other houses along the river road. In 
the morning men went through the streets blowing horns, 
and the cattle of the different inhabitants were put in 
their charge to be driven through the two gates to the 
common for pasture ; at night the cattle were driven back 
again through the gates, but distributed themselves to 
their own quarters. 

This palisade, or wall, gave its name to the street 
which was afterwards laid out along its length and which 
has become the financial centre of New York — Wall 
Street. The wall was, therefore, the upper limit of the 
town of New Amsterdam. If we measure the extent 
of the town from north to south by the scale on the 
"Duke's Plan " of 1664, we shall find that it did not exceed 
five hundred and fifty yards from the southern extremity 
to the wall. The palisade was allowed to decay, but was 
repaired from time to time as the danger of invasion arose 
during both Dutch and English days. In 1692, during 
the alarm of King William's War with the French, fears 
were entertained of an invasion from Canada, and two 
stone bastions were erected, one of which, called "Zea- 



lo The World's Greatest Street 

landia," stood at the land gate. The wall was finally 
demolished in 1699. When the workmen were digging 
up Broadway in 1799 to lay the water pipes of the Man- 
hattan Company, they came upon the foundations and 
posts of the old city gate at Wall Street. 

In 1652, upon petition of the inhabitants, the Com- 
pany granted them a burgher government; — this con- 
stituted the first incorporation of the city. In 1656, the 
first map of the city was drawn, showing seventeen streets, 
"to remain from this time forward, without alteration." 
In 1657, the average price of the best city lots was fifty 
dollars, and these were not on the Heere Straat. The 
rent of an average good house was fourteen dollars a 
year. In 1658, contracts were awarded to some of the 
city shoemakers to make leather fire-buckets; and a few 
months later, these buckets were distributed to several 
houses in the town, eleven being assigned to Heer Paulus 
Leendersen Vandergrift, whose house was on the Heere 
Straat nearly opposite Exchange Place. 

In 1664, at the time of the surrender of the province 
to the English under Colonel Nicolls, in addition to the 
tracts of land on the west side of the street already men- 
tioned, were the farms of Nicholas William Stuyvesant 
and Balthasar Stuyvesant, sons of the governor. Out- 
side the city gate, the Heere Straat did not extend as far as 
Fulton Street. This section had been granted in 1644 
to Jan Jansen Damen, whose property extended, with 
some slight variations, from river to river, and was now 
rented by his heirs to five tenants. 

On the east side of the street, was a grant taken in 1643 
by Govert Loockermans and Isaac Allerton, an English- 
man who had come over in the Mayflower to Plymouth. 
The property extended one hundred feet above Beaver 
Street on the Heere Straat, and two hundred and fifty 




of •». .. 

ORIGINAL GU^^'^^ 

(now NKVV-YORK.) 
hfinff hfloH- the present line of M 



A.l). XhHl. 



'i'fsl 'ii,;,„ 



1 



The Dutch Heere Straat ii 

feet back to the swamp on Broad Street. Above this, 
was another farm of Jan Jansen Damen, which had been 
used formerly by the negro slaves of the Company to 
cultivate for their own use. Damen cultivated part of 
it, and used part of it for a sheep pasture. The next 
property was that belonging to Secretary Cornelis Van 
Tienhoven, which he had acquired in 1644. The few 
houses on the east side of the road were of a mean char- 
acter, little better than hovels, with one room and a fire- 
place, being occupied by mechanics and laborers. This 
was due to the fact that the Heere Straat was remote 
from the business parts of the town. 




CHAPTER II 

THE FORT AND THE BOWLING GREEN 

1 HE fort at Garden Street (1612) 

I was a block-house surrounded by 
palisades, or, in the language of 
the times, "stockadoes." The fort 
erected by the West India Com- 
pany under Kieft at the lower end 
of the island was of similar descrip- 
tion; but it was the first building 
intended to be permanent. It was called Fort Am- 
sterdam, and the settlement which grew up about it, 
New Amsterdam. In 1633, a more pretentious fortifi- 
cation was begun by Van Twiller. This was planned to 
be three hundred feet long and two hundred and fifty 
feet wide, with four corner bastions built of stone, the 
ramparts between being of earth. It was finished in 
1635 at an expense of $1688, and contained the governor's 
house, barracks for the garrison, secretary's office, etc. 
The stone church, seventy-two feet long, fifty-two feet 
wide, and sixteen feet over the ground, was begun by 
Kieft in 1641 and finished the following year. The roof 
was of split shingles; and upon the front was placed a 
tablet stating in Dutch: "Anno Domini, 1642, Wil- 
helm Kieft, Director-General, hath the Commonalty 
caused to build this Temple." The cost of the church, 




d o 
£ a. 

rt pi; 



e 

3 



a-c 



,i4 

. >-■ 

^ o 



^ §; i2 



Iffi 



,M .t: o 



O S 



>, 

^ 



13 



14 The World's Greatest Street 

one thousand dollars, was raised by subscription, advan- 
tage being taken of a wedding party to get the merry 
guests to subscribe sums at which in the "cold, gray light 
of the morning after," they opened their eyes. The 
church was named Saint Nicholas in honor of the patron 
saint of Holland; but later it was also known as "The 
Dutch Church within the Fort." The contractors were 
John and Richard Ogden of Stamford, in Connecticut. 

During colonial and provincial times, the fort was the 
centre of political action, and, to a great extent, owing to 
its being the official residence of the governor, of the social 
life as well. Its site was on the plot of ground bounded 
by Whitehall, Bridge, and State streets, and the Bowling 
Green. The last named was on a hill outside the fort — 
it is there that Broadway begins. Whitehall Street was 
so called because it led down to a white building erected 
by Governor Stuyvesant, afterwards used by the Eng- 
lish Governor Dongan, and later as a custom-house. 
J. H. Innes* suggests that it may have been so called by 
the English in derision, as the building was not an im- 
posing one and may have recalled to them the dilapidated 
appearance of their own Whitehall Palace in London. 
Bridge Street led to the "long bridge" across the canal 
in Broad Street. State Street, afterwards the locality 
of some of the finest mansions in the city, was named 
in honor of the State. 

The Bowling Green was the open space north of the 
fort, originally called 7 Marckveldt (the Marketfield) or 
"The Plaine." A lane led to it from Broad Street, 
called 7 Marckveldt steegie, popularly known in English 
days as Petticoat Lane. A portion of the ancient lane 
is still hidden away between the Produce Exchange and 
the American Bank Note Company's building at Broad 

* New Amsterdam and its People. 



The Fort and the BowHng Green 15 

and Beaver streets. Beaver Street also led into the 
Marketfield; and on the west, leading to the Hudson, 
and the landing-place of the Jersey farmers, was the 
Beaver path, an extension of Beaver Street, but closed as 
a highway and granted to private parties before 1650. 

In 1 64 1, Director Kieft ordered that an annual fair 
for the sale of hogs should be held in the Marketfield on 
the first of November. In 1658, a meat market, the first 
in the city, was established in the same place, and a shed 
was erected for the purpose. In the following year 
(1659) a great, annual, cattle fair was established in front 
of the fort between October twentieth and the last week 
in November, during which time no one could be ar- 
rested for debt. This, no doubt, added materially to its 
popularity, for it lasted for thirty years. The cattle to be 
sold were ranged along the west side of Broadway and 
fastened to stakes driven for the purpose in front of the 
burying-ground (Morris Street). 

The open place served not only as a market, but also 
as a parade for the soldiers, for a common out- door meet- 
ing-place of the inhabitants, and for bonfires. Maypole 
dances, and similar celebrations. The old parade also 
saw the departure and return of many a warlike expedi- 
tion. In 1 69 1 a shambles was established on the Market- 
field, where meat only was to be sold. 

The first Indian war of Kieft's administration was 
ended here on August 30, 1645, when the chiefs and 
sachems of the hostile tribes assembled on "The Plaine," 
smoked the peace pipe, and buried the tomahawk in 
sign of amity, at the same time marking their totems in 
sign of acquiescence upon the treaty which the Dutch had 
prepared for them. In 1655, Stuyvesant marshalled his 
army in front of the fort before starting on his successful 
expedition against the Fort Christina of the usurping 



1 6 The World's Greatest Street 

Swedes upon the Delaware; and "The Plaine" also be- 
held the triumphant return of his (according to Diedrich 
Knickerbocker) motley army. For the last time Stuy- 
vesant marched his little army out of the fort with the 
honors of war, August 26, 1664, while the tri-colored flag 
of Holland fluttered to the ground and the standard of 
Great Britain rose in its place. 

Under Colonel Nicolls, New Amsterdam became 
New York, and the fort became Fort James in honor of 
the lord-proprietor, James, Duke of York and Albany 
(afterwards King James II.). For nine years, the Eng- 
lish remained undisturbed; then, England and Holland 
being at war, a Dutch fleet of five vessels under com- 
mand of Admirals Benckes and Evertsen appeared off 
New York, and the province became once more Dutch, 
with Captain Colve, commanding one of the vessels, 
as governor. The city was called New Orange, and 
the fort. Fort William Hendrick, August, 1673. In 
November, 1674, ^^e Dutch, by the treaty of West- 
minster, ceded the colony to the English, and the fort 
and city became again English, to remain so until the 
Revolution, 

As stated above, the fort was the centre of the politi- 
cal and social life of the city. Here the governors re- 
sided, here the taxes and quit-rents for land grants were 
payable, and here was quartered the garrison, consisting 
usually of a regiment of foot and a company of artillery. 
It is not necessary to give a list of these governors, most 
of them bad, some indifferent and a few, good. Probably 
the worst from a moral point of view was my Lord Corn- 
bury, a dissolute profligate, who amused himself and 
shocked the worthy citizens by parading about the fort 
dressed in women's clothes — his only title to considera- 
tion being that he was a cousin of Queen Anne and that 



The Fort and the BowHng Green 17 

he needed all the money that he could force or beguile 
from the inhabitants. 

When, in August, 1689, the news of the abdication of 
James II. reached the city, the great mass of the citizens 
determined to get rid of the obnoxious Governor Nichol- 
son and declared for William and Mary; but there was 
far from being unanimity of opinion. A committee of 
safety was formed, and Jacob Leisler, one of the wealthiest 
merchants of the city and a captain of the militia, was 
declared commander-in-chief until such time as instruc- 
tions could be received from England. The five train- 
bands of the city and one from Eastchester paraded in 
front of the fort and refused to obey the orders of their 
colonel, Nicholas Bayard, but declared instead for Leisler, 
who then took possession of the fort and became the 
actual governor. When on March 19, 1691, Governor 
Sloughter arrived under appointment of William and 
Mary, the fort was, after some delay, surrendered, and 
Leisler was arrested and accused of high treason. A court 
of eight judges was appointed by Sloughter, and Leisler 
and his son-in-law, Jacob Milborne, were convicted of 
treason and sentenced to death. 

Sloughter, who appears to have been a well-meaning 
man when not under the influence of drink, would not 
sign the death warrant, probably believing that, while 
Leisler might be technically guilty, he had, in fact, saved 
the colony from anarchy and been loyal to the king, under 
whose orders he claimed, and rightly, always to have 
acted. There was also fear on the governor's part that 
he might incur the displeasure of the king by summarily 
executing the man who had been the first to raise the 
standard of William and Mary in New York. However, 
Leisler's enemies were determined upon his death and 
took advantage of the governor's weakness to accomplish 



1 8 The World^s Greatest Street 

their purpose. They invited Sloughter to a banquet, got 
him drunk, and, while he was in that condition, induced 
him to sign the death warrant. Before he became sober, 
Leisler and Milborne had been executed. On July 23, 
1 69 1, two months afterwards, Sloughter died suddenly 
while in a drunken state. It is to be hoped that remorse 
helped him on to his untimely end. Four years later. 
Parliament reversed the attainder, the confiscated prop- 
erty of the two victims was restored to their heirs, and 
the bodies of Leisler and Milborne were disinterred and 
buried with high honors in the Dutch church in Garden 
Street. For a quarter of a century afterwards, the 
politics of the city were swayed by the Leislerians and 
the anti-Leislerians. 

In 1 69 1, Abraham De Peyster, captain of one of the 
train-bands and a friend of Leisler, became mayor of the 
city, which office he held for three years. His statue is in 
the Bowling Green, facing the custom-house. 

South of the fort was a point of land, anciently called 
Schreyers' Hoek, or Weepers' Point, after a similar point 
in old Amsterdam, where people saw the last of departing 
vessels, carrying away those who were near and dear to 
them. A number of rocks, called Capske, projected their 
heads above the water. In 1693, during the progress of 
a war between France and England, the governor, fear- 
ing an attack by the French fleet, caused the edge of the 
point to be filled in and erected a platform upon which 
was placed a number of guns to command both rivers. 
The works extended from the present Whitehall Street 
westward about three hundred feet and were commonly 
known as the Whitehall Battery. This was the begin- 
ning of the present Battery; but much more land was 
subsequently filled in, making here one of the most de- 
lightful spots in the city. When fashion ruled in this 



The Fort and the Bowling Green 19 

neighborhood, the Battery park was the favorite resort of 
the citizens. No disfiguring raihoad structure then in- 
tercepted the view, nor was conversation interrupted by 
the thunder of passing trains. Even now, one can travel 
to many places before he will see a view equal to that he 
gets from the Battery of the beautiful harbor of New 
York, with Bartholdi's grand statue of Liberty, and the 
constantly passing vessels lending animation to the 
scene. 

In 1732, the city council: 

"Resolved, that this corporation will lease a piece of land ly- 
ing at the lower end of Broadway, fronting the fort, to some of 
the inhabitants of the said Broadway, in order to be enclosed 
to make a Bowling-Green thereof, with walks therein, for the 
beauty and ornament of said street, as well as for the recreation 
and delight of the inhabitants of the city, leaving the street on 
each side thereof fifty feet in breadth." 

By this act, the first, and oldest, public park in New 
York city came into being. The section adjacent to the 
Marketfield had become the wealthy and fashionable 
quarter of the city, and the residents did not like the 
open market in front of the fort and so near to their own 
habitations. The lessees under the act were John Cham- 
bers, Peter Bayard, and Peter Jay; the rent was one pep- 
percorn a year, and the lease was for eleven years. There 
w^as no golf in those days and the sport of bowling was 
popular; for at the expiration of the first lease, it was 
renewed for eleven years more at a rental of twenty 
shillings a year to John Chambers, Colonel Frederick 
Philipse, and John Roosevelt. 

In the year 1746, a party of Oneidas and Mohawks 
with their squaws and papooses, amounting in all to 
several hundred, came in canoes down the Hudson River 



20 



The World's Greatest Street 



to hold a conference with the British Governor CHnton. 
They encamped upon the shore of the river where the 
N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. freight house is now located in 
the former St. John's Park, and marched down Broad- 
way to Fort George in single file carrying long poles 
ornamented with French scalps. The conference was 
held in the fort; and the whole proceeding was of great 




FIREMEN AT WORK IN I80O 

(From Valentine's Manual) 



interest to the inhabitants, as subsequently all such con- 
ferences were held in Albany. 

The German, Professor Kalm, in a visit to the city in 
1748 describes the fort as "a square with four bastions," 
situated upon the southwest point of the city and con- 
taining the governor's residence, three stories in height. 
This house, which was called the Province House, was 
destroyed by fire during Governor Tryon's time, De- 
cember 17, 1773, with the loss of one life, that of his 
daughter's maid. Kalm states also that the chapel with- 
in the fort was destroyed by fire during the negro plot of 



The Fort and the Bowling Green 21 

1741 ; and further, "According to Governor Burnet's 
observation, this fort stands in the latitude of 42° 12' 
north." 

On the first of January, 1672, Governor Lovelace 
started a post-rider from the fort to carry the mails to 
Boston; but only a few trips were made. The Boston 
post was successfully established a few years later. In 
1753 there appeared the following in the New York 
Gazette: "The Post-Of!ice, at the Bowling Green, 
Broadway, will be open every day, save Saturday after- 
noons and Sundays, from 8 to 12 a.m., and from 2 to 4 
P.M., except on post nights, when attendance will be 
given until ten at night, by A. Golden, deputy post- 
master. N. B. No credit in future." From this it 
would appear that the Saturday half-holiday was one 
of the early institutions of the city. In 1772 it was 
enacted by the provincial assembly that: "The mail be 
sent weekly from. New York to Albany, up one side of 
the River and down the other, for which an extra one 
hundred pounds be allowed." The mail was carried on 
horseback, and the post-rider would sometimes carry a 
woman passenger on a pillion behind him. 

In 1765, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp 
Act. A meeting of the merchants of the city was called 
at Burns's Coffee House on Broadway, and the first non- 
importation agreement was signed, October 31, 1765. 
On the evening of the next day, two companies of the 
Sons of Liberty appeared on the streets. One company 
marched to the Commons where they hanged in effigy 
Lieutenant-Governor Cadwalader Golden ; the other com- 
pany broke into Colden's stable and took out his chariot, 
in which they placed a copy of the obnoxious act and an 
effigy of the lieutenant-governor. Both companies then 
united and marched in silence to the Bowling Green, 



22 The World's Greatest Street 

where they found the soldiers drawn up on the ramparts 
of the fort ready to receive them. General Gage, the 
British commander, thought it prudent not to fire upon 
the rioters; and, as they were refused admission to the 
fort, they turned their attention to the wooden railing 
which surrounded the little park. This they tore down 
for fuel; and, having burnt railing, carriage, act, and 
effigy, they dispersed to their homes. 

The Stamp Act stirred up a hornet's nest from Georgia 
to Massachusetts; and in order to allay the excitement, 
Parliament, on February 20, 1766, repealed the hateful 
act. When the news of the repeal reached New York, the 
inhabitants went wild with delight, the city was illum- 
inated, and special bonfires were lighted in the Bowling 
Green. In a burst of loyalty, the citizens determined 
to erect an equestrian statue of George III. in the Bowl- 
ing Green, and one of Pitt in Wall Street. The gilt 
statue of the king was erected August 21, 1770, amid the 
roar of artillery and the plaudits of the enthusiastic and 
loyal people. 

The wooden fence was replaced temporarily in No- 
vember of the same year ; but the general assembly of the 
province feared: "That unless the said Green be fenced 
in, the same will soon become a receptacle for all the filth 
and dirt of the neighborhood, in order to prevent which, 
it is ordered that the same be fenced with iron rails, at an 
expense of £800." It is generally stated that this fence 
and the original stones still surround the park; but the 
royal crowns and the leaden balls which ornamented the 
pillars were broken off, to be used as missiles to be fired 
at the Asia man-of-war, in case she bombarded the town. 

On the tenth of July, 1776, the news reached the city 
from Philadelphia that the Congress had declared that 
"these Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and 



The Fort and the Bowling Green 



23 



independent States." The enthusiastic populace tore the 
picture of George III. from its frame in the city hall in 
Wall Street, and then proceeded to the Bowling Green, 
where willing hands soon had ropes around the figures 
of the king and his horse. "With a long pull, a strong 
pull, and a pull altogether," the leaden horse and his 




PULLING DOWN THE STATUE OF GEORGE III. 

(From an old print) 

leaden rider came tumbling to the earth. At the same 
time the railing was stripped of its royal ornaments. 
The pedestal was left standing until after the Revolu- 
tion. The lead figures were broken up and sent to 
Litchfield in Connecticut, the home of Oliver Wolcott, 
later governor of the State, by whose wife and daughter 
they were melted and run into 42,000 bullets, which the 
American patriots used later against the royal troops. 



24 The World's Greatest Street 

Upon two occasions, one as late as the spring of 1909, 
pieces of the statue have been found in Litchfield while 
excavating for foundations for new buildings. It is 
supposed that these pieces fell into the hands of Tories, 
who had buried them for safe keeping ; but who were com- 
pelled to leave the relics when they, themselves, were 
obliged to flee from the wrath of their neighbors. The 
pedestal upon which the horse stood and a portion of the 
mane have for many years been in the possession of the 
New York Historical Society. 

On August 27, 1776, was fought the battle of Long 
Island; and on the twelfth of September, a council of 
war was called by Washington which decided that the 
city was untenable and should be evacuated. The fort 
was dismantled, and on the fifteenth, the British occupied 
the city. Once more the banner of Great Britain flew 
over the ramparts of the fort, while the Parade was 
trodden by men in the red coats of the English, the kilts 
of the Highlanders, and the green coats of the German 
yagers. They all departed forever on November 25, 
1783, when the American army of occupation resumed 
possession of the city and fort and flung the starry 
banner to the breeze amid the roar of cannon and the 
cheers of the multitude. 

In the year 1786, Daniel Ludlow and Chancellor Liv- 
ingston asked individually and separately permission to 
have "the care and use of the Bowling Green," which 
they agreed to beautify and keep in order without ex- 
pense to the corporation. The chancellor had the bigger 
"pull" with the city authorities, and his request was 
granted on the terms first proposed by Mr. Ludlow. 

On July 23, 1788, three days before the State con- 
vention ratified the Federal Constitution, the New York 
merchants, mechanics, and others all friends and ad- 



The Fort and the Bowling Green 25 

mirers of Alexander Hamilton — arranged a great pro- 
cession in his honor, the first thing of its kind in the city. 
There were several floats manned by artisans of the 
various trades ; but the most striking feature of the parade 
was a float drawn by six horses, carrying the replica of 
a 32-gun frigate, named the Federal Ship Hamilton, 
twenty-seven feet long, manned by Commodore Nicholson 
and thirty sailors and marines. The procession started 
from the Bowling Green and went to Bayard's farm in 
the vicinity of Grand Street, where a plentiful dinner was 
served to over four thousand persons. The ship must 
have been returned to the starting point and left there, 
as in the records of 1789, there appears the appointment 
of a committee "to remove the Federal Ship out of the 
Bowling Green, to have the fence repaired, and to let 
out the Bowling Green." 

When the fort was demolished in 1787 and 1788 to 
make way for the Government House to be erected on 
its site, a number of interesting objects was disclosed; 
among others, the stone tablet of 1642, which had been 
placed upon the front of the church to commemorate its 
building by Director-General Kieft, and the vault con- 
taining the leaden coffins of Lord Bellomont, and his 
wife, which were identified by the silver plates. The 
bodies were removed to unmarked graves in St. Paul's 
churchyard, while the silver plates, at first intended for 
exhibition in a museum, went at last into the melting- 
pot, and were converted into spoons. (From the grave 
to the gravy, as it were.) The stone from the fort was 
used for the foundations of the Government House, 
while the earth was used for filling in the adjoining 
Battery Park. 

It was intended that the Government House should be 
the residence of President Washington, but it was not 



26 



The World's Greatest Street 



ready for his occupancy before the removal of the seat of 
government to Philadelphia. It was occupied by Gov- 
ernors Clinton and Jay ; and later, when the State capital 
was removed to Albany in 1799, it was used as a custom- 
house. It is described as being two stories high with a 
portico before it covered by a pediment upon which 
were carved the arms of the State — the pediment being 
supported by four white Ionic columns. The house 
stood upon an elevation fronting Broadway, "having be- 




GOVERNMENT HOUSE 



fore it an elegant, elliptical approach, around an area of 
near an acre of ground, enclosed by an iron railing." 

In 1 79 1, the street committee reported that the Bowl- 
ing Green should be preserved and ' ' that the fence should 
be raised in proportion to the regulating of Broadway." 
In 1795, the park was set aside for the garden of the 
governor for the time being. On July eighteenth of the 
same year, its sanctity was invaded by a howling mob 
of indignant citizens, who there burned, to the strains 
of The Carmagnole the treaty with England, and the 



The Fort and the Bowling Green 27 

effigy of its negotiator, John Jay. Our people were at 
that time very French in their sympathies. In 1798, 
John Rogers was granted the use of the BowHng Green 
"on condition that he keep it in order and suffer no crea- 
tures to ruin it." It seems, therefore, that for some 
reasons the park was not a success as a garden for the 
governor's private use. 

The State legislature of 1 8 1 2 authorized the comptrol- 
ler of the State to sell in fee simple the Government House 
and the adjoining grounds to the city of New York for 
not less than fifty thousand dollars. There was a pro- 
viso that the grounds should not be sold for the erection 
of private buildings or for other individual purposes; but 
the proviso was repealed, and the city's option to buy was 
limited to November i, 18 13. How and when the State 
obtained possession of this city property are not known; 
except, perhaps, as the inheritor of the province and by 
claiming that the fort and its appurtenances were pro- 
vincial property, and not municipal. However, the city 
received a deed from the state on August 2, 18 13, sub- 
ject to a lease of the property to DeWitt Clinton and 
others, expiring on May i, 1815. Some time during 
18 1 5, the Government House is said to have burned 
down. 

The city divided the property into seven parcels, or 
lots, and these were sold on June 19, 1815. The pur- 
chasers probably bought on speculation, as all but one of 
the lots did not long remain in their possession but were 
transferred to others. This section was then the most 
fashionable in the city ; and as the lots, with one exception, 
were thirty feet wide, and one hundred and thirty feet 
deep, it was not long before a row of elegant mansions 
occupied the site. The grandmother of one of the 
author's friends used to live in one of these houses, and she 



28 The World's Greatest Street 

used to tell how as a girl she went with the rest of her 
family to their summer house near Broadway and Four- 
teenth Street, and of the preparations made for weeks 
ahead for this summer flitting into the country. 

When the Croton water was introduced into the city, 
the occupants of the houses fronting on the Bowling 
Green erected a fountain, consisting of a rough stone 
structure, over which the water was conducted by means 
of a pipe. The design was not one of beauty and called 
forth considerable adverse criticism from visitors from 
abroad. 

And now Mr. Brown 

Was fairly in town, 
In that part of the city they used to call "down," 
Not far from the spot of ancient renown 

As being the scene 

Of the Bowling Green, 
A fountain that looked like a huge tureen 
Piled up with rocks, and a squirt beween. 



And he stopped at an Inn that's known very well, 
" Delmonico's" once — now "Steven's Hotel"; 
(And to venture a pun which I think rather witty, 
There's no better Inn in this Inn-famous city!) 

John Godfrey Saxe. 

By 1850, fashion had left this neighborhood and busi- 
ness had crept in; and these mansions became the offices 
of several of the foreign consulates and of the great steam- 
ship companies, so that they became popularly known as 
"Steamship Row." These are within the recollection of 
some of our younger citizens. The national govern- 



The Fort and the Bowling Green 



29 



ment bought the site for a custom-house, and held it for 
several years before beginning the work of demolition 
of the old mansions. The corner-stone of the building 




" STEAMSHIP row" AND THE BOWXING GREEN 



was laid October 2, 1902, and the building w^as opened 
for business in November, 1907. This beautiful and 
imposing building, designed by Cass Gilbert, cost the 
government about seven millions of dollars. Its front 



30 The World's Greatest Street 

is ornamented by a number of statues of famous individ- 
uals, and by four symbolic groups, the work of Daniel 
French, representing in marble, Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
America. 



^Plan ()i|the City of New York from an ac 1 ual Sui \ 




CHAPTER III 



BROADWAY TO WALL STREET 




OLLOWING the custom of renaming 
which was introduced by the Eng- 
Hsh, the Heere Straat of the Dutch 
became Broadway, even the Dutch 
calling it in their own tongue, 
Breedeweg. Many of the grantees 
of lots on both sides of the street 
were imbued by the spirit of land 
speculation which has distinguished the city ever since, 
and the constant changes in ownership of the lots show 
this speculative spirit. The authorities tried in 1676 to 
increase the occupancy of the vacant lots of the city by 
directing all owners of vacant lots or ruinous buildings to 
build upon the lots or improve them under penalty of 
seeing them sold at public auction. This was an exercise 
of the right of eminent domain which would have satisfied 
Henry George two centuries later. 

At the time of the English occupation in 1664, the 
highway extended only as far as the wall ; it took nearly a 
century more before it was extended to the Commons, and 
this upper section was called Great George Street. The 
surface of Manhattan was naturally rolling, and this early 
Broadway followed the inequalities of the surface at the 
top of the ridge which sloped to both rivers. The two 

31 



32 The World's Greatest Street 

principal streets of the Dutch already mentioned were 
in fact, nothing but cow-paths over which the cattle were 
driven to and from pasture; this was pre-eminently so 
with Pearl Street, which was called the Cowpath. 

Broadway 

A cow-path only; yet in its birth, 

It had the promise of its present worth : 

For Nature had its course prescribed 

Between the eastern and the western tide. 

And man has learned, despite his bold persistence, 

That Nature's law is best — "the line of least resistance." 



In 1658, the inhabitants of Brower Street were directed 
to pave their street in order to facilitate traffic, as the 
street was almost impassable. This was the first street 
in the city that was paved, and in consequence it became 
known as Stone Street. Broadway was not paved until 
1707, and then only from Trinity Church to the Bowling 
Green; at the same time the residents were permitted to 
plant trees in front of their lots. In 1709, the street was 
levelled as far as Maiden Lane, In 1 691, an order was 
made concerning the paving of certain streets, among 
which we find: "Broadway, on both sides, ten feet, 
down to Mr. Smith's (opposite the Bowling Green) on 
the west side, and to Lucas Kiersted's on the other." 
Yet it is probable that the vicinity of the Bowling Green 
was not paved until 1747, when a committee was ap- 
pointed to have so much of the street around the Bowling 
Green and the fence along the fort paved as they might 
see proper. The paving consisted of cobblestones, and 
extended only ten feet in front of the houses, the middle of 
the street serving as a gutter and probably being a quag- 
mire in wet weather. The work fell upon the owners of 




o w 



33 



34 The World's Greatest Street 

the lots, and in case of default in complying with the 
ordinance there was a fine of twenty shillings to be levied 
upon the recalcitrant householder. 

Anything in the way of sidewalks was at first voluntary 
on the part of the property owners; they were called 
strookes by the Dutch. Sidewalks did not come in until 
1790, and then were made of brick. New York was far 
behind the Quaker City in this respect, as shown by a 
remark of Dr. Franklin to the effect that a New Yorker 
could be known by his gait, in shuffling over a Philadel- 
phia fine pavement like a parrot upon a mahogany table. 
A Philadelphia visitor about 1835 remarks then that New 
York's large flagstones and wide foot pavements surpass 
Philadelphia even for ease of walking, and the unusual 
width of the flagstone footways across the pebbled streets 
at the corners is very superior. It must have been a 
pleasure to him to get away from the possibility of 
stepping on a loose brick on a rainy day. 

There seems to have been some difficulty in getting 
rid of the water on Broadway after a heavy rain on ac- 
count of the configuration of the land. An early en- 
gineer proposed a scheme for lowering Broadway and 
diverting the surplus water into Blommaert's Vly and the 
Broad Street ditch ; but the project did not meet with ap- 
proval. In 1 712, Broadway was levelled between Maiden 
Lane and the Commons. It is probable that the street 
had been regulated in the vicinity of the Bowling Green 
before this, possibly by the ordinance of 1691, quoted 
above. That the street had been cut down some six 
or eight feet was shown by an ancient house which for- 
merly stood at Beaver Street and Broadway, whose 
foundations were left standing above the street after 
the cutting down. In 1760, a committee was appointed 
to regulate and pave Broadway between Dey and Divi- 










35 



36 The World's Greatest Street 

sion (Fulton) streets ; and after the Revolution, there were 
ordered surveys from Rector Street north preparatory to 
regulating and paving. In 1718 the first rope- walk in the 
city was established on the line of Great George Street, 
abreast of the Commons, between Park Place and Barclay 
Street; it is shown on the Montgomerie map of 1728. 

In 1677, public wells, two of which were in the 
middle of Broadway, were established for the better 
protection of the city in case of fire. One of these wells, 
called "Mr. Rombout's Well," was situated near Ex- 
change Place, the other, not far from it. The care of 
these wells was placed with a committee of the inhabi- 
tants of the vicinity, who were assessed for one half of 
their cost and maintenance. The water in the city was 
generally bad and scarce; though occasionally good 
sweet water was found, as at the famous "Tea Water 
Pump" at Pearl Street and the Bowery. Potable water 
from some of these good sources of supply was hawked 
about the streets, and sold to the inhabitants. The wells 
were abolished from Broadway in 1806. 

The question of an adequate supply of good water 
arose as early as 1774, when Christopher Colles con- 
structed a reservoir at public expense on the east side of 
Great George Street, between Pearl and White, then far 
out of town. Water was obtained from sunk wells and 
from the Collect, or Freshwater pond, on the site of the 
present city prison on Centre Street. The water was dis- 
tributed through wooden pipes in 1776, but the supply was 
insufficient and the quality poor. The British took posses- 
sion of the city immediately afterward, the plant fell 
into disuse, and the people returned to the ancient 
pumps and wells. In 1798, the question of getting a 
supply of water from the mainland of Westchester 
County was agitated, but the corporation was deterred 



Broadway to Wall Street Z7 

by the expense. Alexander Hamilton did not believe 
that the matter of water supply came within the 
province of the municipality so far as ownership and 
maintenance were concerned. Then the Manhattan Com- 
pany was formed by Aaron Burr, whose charter gave 
the right of supplying the city with water and the further 
right to engage in the banking business. Colles's reservoir 
was utilized, and the old plan of wooden pipes was re- 
sumed; but water was both scarce and bad, and the com- 
pany paid more attention to banking than it did to water 
and thus lost the confidence of the community, which 
soon voted the new plan a failure. When, in 1894, the 
excavations were in progress for the cable road of Jacob 
Sharp, some of the old wooden pipes were exhumed in 
Broadway. The great fire of 1835, entailing a loss upon 
the city of 648 houses and over eighteen millions of dol- 
lars, quickened the public interest in the water question 
upon which the citizens had voted "yes" at the previous 
spring election. Croton water was admitted into the 
city on July 4, 1842, and the event was celebrated on the 
fourteenth of October with the most imposing celebra- 
tion which had yet graced the streets of the city. 

In the Dutch days, no attempt was made at lighting 
the streets of the town at night; but in 1679 every seventh 
house was obliged to hang out a pole with a lantern and 
lighted candle on the nights when there was no moon ; and 
at the same time a night watch was formed. The ex- 
pense of the lights was divided among the seven house- 
holders adjacent to the lantern. In 1762, an act of 
the assembly gave authority to provide means of lighting 
the city, and in that year the first lamps and posts were 
purchased. In 1774, sixteen lamplighters were employed. 
In 1823, the Manhattan Gaslight Company was in- 
corporated and permitted to light the city below Canal 



38 The World's Greatest Street 

Street. The gas pipes were laid on both sides of Broad- 
way in 1825, and the lamps were lighted shortly afterward. 
This system still prevails throughout the city, though 
electric lighting has superseded gas in most of the impor- 
tant thoroughfares. Broadway, between Fourteenth and 
Twenty-sixth streets, was the first section of the city to be 
lighted with arc lights, December 20, 1880. About the 
same time, a high mast was erected in the middle of Union 
Square at the top of which was a cluster of electric lamps ; 
but this plan of lighting the square was not a success. 

The establishment of a meat market in the Bowling 
Green has already been described. It was still in use in 
1702, as it was rented then for five years. About the 
end of the seventeenth century, a new plan was adopted 
by which the city was spared the expense of erecting the 
necessary market buildings. This was by the residents of 
a neighborhood petitioning for a market, for which they 
paid the cost of erection and maintenance and a rental 
to the city, which became the owner at the expiration of 
the lease. 

In 1738, the inhabitants of the West Ward between 
Broadway and the Hudson petitioned for the erection of a 
market in Broadway, as they were so distant from the 
markets already established, and for the convenience of 
farmers and others who came from New Jersey and from 
up the Hudson. Upon permission being granted, they 
erected (1739) a market-house forty-two feet long and 
twenty-six feet wide in the middle of Broadway, "front- 
ing the street in which the chief justice lives (probably 
Maiden Lane), and opposite to Crown (Liberty) Street." 
Mention is also made of a market having occupied this 
site in 1729. The market was called the "Oswego Mar- 
ket." In 1746, twenty-six feet were added to the south 
end of the building, and other additions were made later. 



Broadway to Wall Street 39 

It enjoyed a prosperous existence for over thirty years, by 
which time Broadway had grown up and become one of 
the principal streets of the city. Many attempts were 
made to get the corporation to remove the market, tak- 
ing up, as it did, so much of the highway that it inter- 
fered with traffic ; but the corporation refused to act. At 
last the building was, in 1771, declared a public nuisance 
by the grand jury. They describe it as being one hundred 
and fifty-six feet long and twenty feet, three and one 
half inches wide. 

The Common Council decided to defend the indict- 
ment and consulted two of the leading lawyers of the 
city, James Duane and Samuel Jones. The former de- 
clined to act as counsel and the latter gave it as his 
opinion that the city should submit. This the city at 
first declined to do, resolving to let the matter be de- 
cided by the court ; but further reflection made them think 
differently, and they decided to move the market to an- 
other site. Several localities were suggested, — among 
others, the Commons, — and the Council finally settled 
upon the shore of the North River at the foot of Dey 
Street, where a new market-house was erected which 
subsequently became Washington Market (18 12). At 
the time that the Oswego Market was removed from 
Broadway, the street was paved in that locality. 

The market received its odd name from the fact that 
during the French and Indian War, Fort Oswego was con- 
sidered the most important place within control of the 
English to withstand the encroachments of the French 
from Canada. The troops, provisions, and other sup- 
plies for the fort were all shipped from the river front near 
the foot of the present Cortlandt Street, a point which be- 
came known as the "Oswego Landing," The lane from 
the landing led up to the market, which thus adopted the 



40 The World's Greatest Street 

name of Oswego. It was also called the "Broadway 
Market," and the "Crown Market" from being abreast of 
Crown Street. After the removal of the market from the 
middle of Broadway in 1771, the residents of the vicinity 
felt the inconvenience of having no market near by, and 
so petitioned for the establishment of one on the corner 
of Broadway and Maiden Lane; their petition was 
granted, and the market established shortly afterward. 
It took the name of Oswego, but is better known as "Old 
Swago." It stood until 181 1, when it was removed by 
aldermanic resolution, adopted May 6th of the same year. 

The first attempt to clean the streets was made in 
1696, when a contract was made at thirty pounds sterling 
a year. Before this, every householder had been obliged 
to keep the street clean in front of his own residence. 
These ordinances failed of effect; and in 1702, all the in- 
habitants were required to sweep the dirt into heaps in 
front of their doors on Friday morning and to have it re- 
moved before Saturday night under penalty of a fine of 
six shillings. The cartmen were obliged to carry away 
the dirt at three cents a load, or, if they loaded their 
own carts, at six cents; in the event of a refusal, they 
were subject to heavy fines. As late as 1800, the chim- 
neys were swept by small negro boys who went their 
rounds at daybreak, crying: "Sweep, ho! sweep, ho! 
from the bottom to the top, without a ladder or a rope, 
sweep, ho!" with numerous variations. It was not until 
the days of Colonel Waring subsequent to January, 
1895, that New York learned that its streets could be 
cleaned thoroughly and economically. 

From the Dutch days down to 1825, there were no 
methods employed for removing the refuse and garbage 
from the houses. All such matter was thrown into the 
streets where it was disposed of by the hogs, which were 




^Mjfy^ ^^^c^^-^m^ 



Broadway to Wall Street 41 

allowed to range the streets for that purpose, as the dogs 
used to do in Constantinople. It was estimated as late 
as 1820 that thirty thousand hogs roamed the streets of 
the city, and in Boston, Philadelphia, and other places. 
New York was a byword for filthiness. Notwithstand- 
ing the fatal visitations of the yellow fever and other 
diseases, — directly traceable to the festering masses of 
putrefying refuse in the city streets, — it was not until 
1823 that the Common Council listened to the protests of 
the best citizens and directed that carts should be used to 
remove the garbage and that the swine should be cap- 
tured and sent to the public pound. The men and boys 
of the streets offered such forcible resistance to the carts 
and to the attempt to arrest the hogs that the ordinance 
became a dead letter until several years later, when a 
proper public spirit of indignation against such antiquated 
methods was aroused, and the hogs were driven from the 
streets and the carts permitted to go unmolested. 

Within the quarter century following the English oc- 
cupation, the character of Broadway, at least on the west 
side and in the neighborhood of the Bowling Green, be- 
gan to change; for several of the wealthy merchants 
erected their houses on Broadway, and it began to be- 
come a fashionable part of the city. It was customary in 
the old days for a merchant to live over his shop; but 
this was not so much the case in Broadway, of which it 
has already been said that it was remote from business. 
Both before and after the Revolution, William Street was 
the great dry-goods section, where the belles of those days 
purchased their materials, whose names and meanings 
are unknown to the present generation. There were 
amens, cordurets, camblets, callimancos, casserillias, 
durants, osnaburgs, platillas, ribdelurs, shalloons, tick- 
lenburgs, weldbores, and half a dozen others. It was 



42 The World's Greatest Street 

not until about 18*40 that Broadway got its share of this 
trade, due to the great fire of 1835, which swept away the 
whole business section east of Broadway and south of 
Wall Street — a trade that it kept for many years after- 
wards. But even as late as 1845, Broadway was not by 
any means the sole business street of the city, though 
rapidly becoming the fashionable one. 

Of the character and number of the houses that stood 
on the west side of Broadway at the time of the Revolu- 
tion, we have no positive knowledge; as everything, with 
three or four exceptions, was swept away by the great 
fire which obliterated that section immediately after 
the British occupation, September 21, 1776. An enum- 
eration of the houses in 1744 shows there were 1141 in 
the whole city, of which 129 were on the west side of 
Broadway; but it must be remembered that even as late 
as the British evacuation in 1783, the street did not go 
much above St. Paul's. The lots on the west side all 
sloped down to the river, which at that time was about 
on the line of the present Greenwich Street. On the east 
side of the highway, the houses still continued to be of a 
meaner description. 

At the end of the Dutch days, on the west side of the 
Bowling Green, were two taverns, one kept by Pieter 
Kocks, later, by his widow Annetje, — the other, by 
Martin Krigier. Both of them had been soldiers; and 
as their taverns were near the fort, their houses became 
very popular with the members of the garrison and also 
with the people who crossed the Hudson to attend to 
business on the Marketfield. North of these taverns 
were the house of Dominie Megapolensis, the house of the 
secretary of the Company, and the burial ground near 
the present Morris Street. 

During the seventeenth century it was customary for 



Broadway to Wall Street 43 

the European nations to allow citizens to fit out private 
armed vessels to prey upon the commerce of any nation 
with whom they might be at war. These privateers did 
not confine their attentions to the enemy's vessels; but 
as time passed, they became so bold that they attacked, 
captured, or destroyed any vessel that they thought 
worth while, no matter what flag it carried. If there 
were sufficient monetary or political influence, the letters 
of marque were easily obtained; so that privateers were 
soon numerous, and not a few became out and out buc- 
caneers. The whole American coast was infested by 
them, and legitimate commerce was almost entirely 
wiped out. Many of the wealthy New Yorkers were 
backers of these enterprises, and even Governor Fletcher 
was so deeply interested as to call forth the denunciations 
of the better class of merchants. These had their effect 
upon the home government, and Fletcher was recalled in 
1695. He was succeeded by Lord Bellomont, who came 
in 1698 with the avowed intention of suppressing piracy. 
New York was the rendezvous of these gentry ; and it was 
no unusual thing to see them swaggering about the streets 
of the little town, armed with cutlass and pistol, resorting 
to the taverns and terrorizing the inhabitants. "Easy 
come, easy go," is a saying particularly applicable to 
money, and these privateersmen were liberal spenders; 
so that most of the gold and silver coin in circulation 
came from them. Much of this was of Arabian mintage, 
which the pirates obtained from their outrages in the 
Indian Ocean, where their headquarters were on the 
island of Madagascar. In fact, so supine were the gov- 
ernor and authorities that the town was at the mercy of 
these sea-robbers until Bellomont took vigorous measures 
to suppress them. 

The plot of ground formerly occupied by the Kocks 



44 The World's Greatest Street 

tavern came into the possession of Admiral Sir Peter 
Warren, who erected upon it an elegant mansion, which 
passed later into the ownership of the Watts family. 
Captain Archibald Kennedy of the royal navy, at one 
time collector of the port, and later, Earl of Cassilas in 
the Scotch peerage, married Mary Watts, and thus 
came into possession of Number i, Broadway, which, in 
consequence, became known as the "Kennedy house." 
Kennedy gave this house to his son; and during the 
ownership of both, it became the centre of the fashionable 
life of the city. General Charles Lee made it his head- 
quarters in 1776, before his departure for Charleston, 
S. C; Israel Putnam occupied it until the Americans 
were driven from the city, and Washington also made use 
of it during the same period. It escaped the great fire of 
September, 1776, and was occupied successively by Sir 
William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir Guy Carleton 
as their city headquarters during the time they were 
British commanders-in-chief in America. It was from 
this house that the unfortunate Andre carried on his 
correspondence with Arnold, and it was here that he had 
his last interview with Clinton and received his final in- 
structions before departing on his fatal journey to meet 
Arnold in September, 1780. One matter particularly 
impressed upon him by Clinton was that under no cir- 
cumstances was he to go within the American lines; and 
it was the violation of this order by Andre that brought 
about his capture and death. 

After the Revolution, the house was occupied by 
several leading citizens, among whom was Isaac Sears, the 
famous leader of the Sons of Liberty, who was popularly 
known as "King" Sears, and whose daughters were styled 
the "Princesses." While New York was the Federal 
capital, the Kennedy house was the residence of Don 



Broadway to Wall Street 45 

Diego de Gardoqui, the Spanish minister. It then became 
a fashionable boarding-school for young ladies, to which 
the daughters of the city's best families were sent. It 
then passed into the possession of the wealthy banker, 
Nathaniel Prime; and after his death, it became the 
Washington Hotel, one of its guests being the great 
minister of Napoleon, Talleyrand, who, during his exile 
from France, sojourned here while in the city. The 
famous mansion was demolished in 1882 to make way for 
the Washington office building, erected by Cyrus W. 
Field, the layer of the Atlantic cable. Number i, Broad- 
way is remarkable in the fact that since the first grant of 
land was made of this plot in 1643, only three buildings 
have occupied it. The spot has been appropriately 
marked by a bronze tablet placed upon the building by 
the Holland Society. 

At Number 3, lived John Watts, a member of the 
governor's council, a colonial judge, and the father-in- 
law of Archibald Kennedy. The site of Martin Krigier's 
tavern is at Number 9. It seems that about the year 
1700, or a little earlier, John Hutchins erected a tavern on 
this site, moving from his place opposite the City Hall at 
Wall Street, corner of Broad, where he had conducted a 
most fashionable public house, the headquarters of the 
anti-Leislerians, for several years previously. In 1763, 
Mr. Steel advertises that he "has moved the King's 
Arms Tavern from opposite the Exchange [Broad and 
Pearl streets] to the Broadway, at the lower end, op- 
posite the fort." The innkeepers of that time were in 
the habit of carrying with them the signs of their taverns 
if they had been popular ones. This practice has some- 
times caused difficulty in identifying the sites of the old 
taverns and their owners. In 1766, we find in an ad- 
vertisement that: "Concerts of Music are given by 



46 



The World's Greatest Street 



Edward Bardin, innkeeper, at the King's Arms garden 
in the Broadway, three times a week in the evening, in a 
neat and commodious room in the garden; tickets i^." 
The King's Arms, being so close to the fort, enjoyed 
great popularity during the Revolution and the days 




THE king's arms, ATLANTIC GARDEN, IN 1 765 

(From Valentine's Manual for 1856) 

preceding it, and was the headquarters of General Gage 
during the time he was commander-in-chief. It escaped 
the fire of 1776 and was continued as a hotel for many 
years afterwards, becoming the Atlantic Garden toward 
the end of its career, which terminated about i860, when 
the property became a place for the storage of cars for 
one of the city lines. 

The King's Arms is of special interest m connection 
with Benedict Arnold, whose quarters were in this build- 
ing after his desertion of the American cause. The 



Broadway to Wall Street 47 

patriots were very anxious to get possession of the traitor, 
and many schemes were proposed to accompHsh this pur- 
pose. The most famous is that of Sergeant Champe of 
"Light Horse Harry Lee's" squadron of dragoons. 
Champe came to an understanding with his commander, 
and then deHberately deserted his colors in New Jersey, 
and made tracks for the nearest British outpost. His 
companions-in-arms were unaware of his project, and so 
pursued him with all the energy and rancor that could be 
displayed against a deserter, firing upon him, but luckily 
not hitting him. Thus pursued, he came well recom- 
mended into the enemy's lines, where he stated he wished 
to join Arnold's American Legion. He had an inter- 
view with Arnold, who enlisted him. 

The watchful Champe noticed that Arnold was in the 
habit of walking in the garden of the King's Arms during 
the evening. The land sloped down to the shore of the 
Hudson, and a lane ran along the edge of the garden. 
Champe made his plans with his confederates, who were 
to come from the Jersey shore in the darkness, seize 
Arnold during his evening walk, and carry him by way 
of the lane to the waiting boat. The night for the en- 
terprise arrived, and everything was in readiness; but 
Arnold did not come. The next day he sailed for Vir- 
ginia on his ravaging expedition against Norfolk and 
Portsmouth, and Champe was obliged to go with him. 
The sergeant realized that his plan had failed and so 
took the first opportunity to desert the British colors and 
find his way back to his own. Lee brought him before 
the commander-in-chief who was cognizant of the scheme. 
Washington offered Champe a commission in the army, 
but at the same time advised him of the danger of ac- 
cepting it and of being taken prisoner by the British, and 
the surety of his being summarily shot as a deserter 



48 The World's Greatest Street 

under such circumstances. He recommended Champe to 
move with his family from Virginia to Tennessee, prom- 
ising to clear his name of the charge of desertion. Champe 
found the advice good, as the British imder Cornwallis 
were then working their way up toward Yorktown, and 
the partisan Tarleton was appearing in the most unex- 
pected places and at the most unlooked for times and 
making it exceedingly dangerous for any one in Virginia 
not well affected to the royal cause ; so Champe migrated 
over the mountains into Tennessee, where his descendants 
may be found to this day. 

In 1744, an ordinance was passed permitting the own- 
ers of property between Battery Place and Morris Street 
(though the streets are not named) "to range their 
fronts in such manner as the Alderman and Assistant 
[alderman] of the West Ward may think proper." The 
following year, it was ordered that a straight line be 
drawn between 

" the house of Mr. Augustus Jay, now in the occupation of Peter 
Warren, Esq., to the north corner of the house of Archibald 
Kennedy, fronting the Bowling Green in the Broad Way, and 
that Mr. William Smith, who is now about to build a house 
(and all other persons who shall build between the two houses) 
lay their foundations and build conformably to the aforesaid 
straight line." 

It is apparent that the owners of the property preferred 
to have their houses with fronts square to the side walls 
instead of on the slant, as compliance with this straight 
line ordinance required, and that they found complaisant 
advisers in the aldermen from that day to this. And 
how could aldermen fail to be obliging to such persons 
as owned property and lived here from the beginning of 
the eighteenth century well on toward the first quarter 



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50 The World's Greatest Street 

of the nineteenth — Jays, De Peysters, Van Cortlandts, 
and others of the great names in our city history ? Stand 
at the BowHng Green to-day and look along the west 
side of Broadway, and you will see a jog between each 
house and its next neighbor all the way up to the Stevens 
House at Morris Street; for the great engineering family 
lived here on Broadway, too, though their mansion has 
been a hotel this many a year. 

In 1840, just after the great panic of 1837, the house 
and lot at Number 11, Broadway, sold for $15,000, which 
was considered a low price, the lot being thirty-nine feet 
on Broadway, two hundred feet deep, and twenty-seven 
feet on Greenwich Street, At Number 19 was a boarding- 
house at which Daniel Webster often stopped during his 
visits to the city. Contiguous to Morris Street was the 
ancient Dutch burial ground, which was cut up into four 
lots, each twenty-five by a hundred, and sold in 1676 or 
1677. The first builders dug up the bones from the un- 
marked graves. Number 39 was the McComb mansion, 
six stories in height, where Washington lived as president 
after his removal from Cherry Street. The rental was 
$2500 a year. 

We can imagine the great man strolling down Broadway 
for a breath of sea air from the Battery. On one of these 
occasions he was stopped at the corner of Broadway 
and Wall Street by an old Scotch nurse who presented to 
the president her infant charge, and asked him to bless 
the bairn, who had been named after him. Washington 
patted the boy on the head, asked his name, and passed 
on; but the youngster, who was Washington Irving, was 
proud of the fact and delighted in telling it in later years. 
Shortly before his death, Irving told the story to George 
Haven Putnam, then a small boy, and ended with a quiz- 
zical smile : "But you can't see now the spot on my head 



Broadway to Wall Street 



51 



that the president touched." Young Putnam went 
home with the story, and puzzled over its explanation 
until his father enlightened him with the remark that 
"Irving wore a wig." If Irving placed his hands on 
young Putnam's head, we have a line of apostolic sue- 




i 'fell 1 i5i i^.^f-t- 

""' "ti — 1 — ..^ At^ i W5' 'V'-^ -^'"fl IB] 




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iiiiiiiiiiiiil 



THE BUNKER MANSION ON BROADWAY, 183O 

(From Valentine's Manual) 

cession by the "the laying on of hands" from the Father 
of his Country to the present.* 

Number 39, and the adjoining house later became the 
Bunker Mansion House, which acquired considerable 
popularity for many years. At the corner of Rector 
Street, within the present grounds of Trinity, Frangois 
Rombout, who was mayor in 1678, had a fine mansion with 

* I had this storv from Mr. Putnam himself. 



52 The World's Greatest Street 

grounds sloping down to the river. It was during his 
administration that Governor Andros granted to the 
city the monopoly of bolting flour and the exclusive right 
to export it, and forbade all other towns to engage in 
the trade under penalty of forfeiture of the flour. 

Rector Street received its name from the fact that the 
first rector of Trinity, the Rev. William Vesey, used to 
live on this street; his name is also commemorated in 
Vesey Street on the north side of St. Paul's. 

The houses on the east side of Broadway continued to 
be of an inferior character for many years, even after the 
city came back to the possession of the Americans. We 
have inherited a good many customs from the Dutch, and 
it may be worth while speculating whether our preference 
for the west side of thoroughfares running north and south, 
both for residence and business, is not one of them. The 
only building on the east of any consequence seems to have 
been a tavern erected by John Corbett in English days 
below Exchange Place. During the fire of 1776, a num- 
ber of the houses were burned; they were replaced by 
others of an equally poor, or poorer, quality. The prices 
for which the properties sold are fair criteria of their 
quality; thus, the highest price is for a house on a lot fifty- 
five by one hundred and fifty feet, which sold in colonial 
days for £320. 

After 1790, fine residences began to line this side of 
the street as well as the other, occupied by many of the 
leading merchants and professional men, among whom 
may be mentioned Alexander Hamilton and Dr. Charlton. 
In 1827, the Adelphi Hotel, six stories in height, was 
erected at the corner of Beaver Street. By 1825, like the 
opposite side of the street, many of these fine residences 
were given over to hotels, inns, and boarding-houses. 

The most noted of all these boarding-houses in the 



I 



Broadway to Wall Street 53 

thirties was located at 61 Broadway and was presided 
over by Miss Margaret Mann, who was called familiarly 
*'Aiint" Margaret. It was patronized largely by ladies, 
a sign of its eminent respectability, and it was also the 
stopping place in New York of such actors as Sinclair, 
the father of Mrs. Edwin Forrest, and Tyrone Power. 

At one time Washington Irving lived at Number 16 
Broadway with his friend Henry Brevoort at the house 
of Mrs. Ryckman. He often strolled up Broadway to 
visit his friend, the Widow Jane Renwick, who lived at the 
corner of Cortlandt Street, and whose son afterwards 
became a professor at Columbia College. Mrs. Renwick 
was " The Blue-Eyed Lassie" of Robert Burns's poem. 
When Irving returned from his diplomatic post in Spain in 
1848, he was not very well off, and he took a desk in the 
office of his brother, John Treat Irving, a well-known 
lawyer. Mr. George P. Putnam wrote to Irving making 
him a generous offer in the matter of publication of his 
past and future works. Washington read the letter to his 
brother John, and in his pleasurable excitement kicked 
over the desk in front of him and cried: "There is no 
necessity, John, of my bothering further with the law. 
Here is a fool of a publisher going to give me a thousand 
dollars a year for doing nothing." Putnam remained 
Irving's publisher until the latter's death in 1859, dur- 
ing which time Irving received much more than the 
thousand dollars a year. 

Among the other hotels which have enjoyed good 
reputations were Barnum's, called the Howard House in 
1 85 1, and the Tremont Temperance House at Number 
no. In 1906, the small plot of ground 40 feet by 30, at 
the southeast corner of Wall Street, sold for six hundred 
dollars a square foot, the highest price ever paid up to this 
date (1910) for land upon the island of Manhattan. 



54 The World's Greatest Street 

In the thirties, each of the Wall Street corners was 
occupied by a fashionable tailor shop, the firms being 
Howard, Keeler & Scofield, and St. John & Toucey. 
Here were built clothes for the fashionable Knickerbocker 
youth and for their more sedate sires, which were of such 
excellent materials, and so well made that they lasted 
their wearers almost a life time. They were made pretty 
much on the same pattern so that there was a similarity 
of dress that became in time monotonous. An English 
visitor of 1905 remarked to me that, while the American 
men are, as a rule, well-dressed, their clothes look as if 
they had all been copied from the same model; and he 
more than hinted that we are all slaves of the prevailing 
fashion, as he observed ii while walking with me on the 
great thoroughfare. This he thought strange in such a 
democratic and independent people. 

Let us see what a contemporaneous writer says of 
Broadway in a mock series of notes for a longer article. 
It is headed: 

THE STRANGER AT HOME; OR A TOUR OF BROADWAY 
BY JEREMY COCKLOFT, THE YOUNGER* 

Battery — flag-staff kept by Louis Keaffee — Keaffee main- 
tains two spy-glasses by subscriptions — merchants pay two 
shillings a year to look through them at the signal poles on 
Staten Island — a very pleasant prospect. Young seniors go 
down to the flag-staff to buy peanuts and beer [not lager beer, 
but spruce beer] after the fatigue of their morning studies, 
and sometimes to play ball, or some other innocent amusement. 
— Return to the Battery — delightful place to indulge in the 
luxury of sentiment. How various are the mutations of the 
world! but a few da,ys, a few hours — at least not above two 

* Salmagtmdi Papers, No. xii. — Saturday, June 27, 1807. We omit 
the various digressions. 



Broadway to Wall Street 55 

hundred years ago, this spot was inhabited by a race of ab- 
origines, who dwelt in bark huts, lived upon oysters and Indian 
corn, danced buffalo dances, and were "lords of the fowl and 
the brute"; but the spirit of time and the spirit of brandy 
have swept them from their ancient inheritance. — mem. 
Battery a very pleasant place to walk on a Sunday evening — 
not quite genteel enough though — everybody walks there, and 
a pleasure, however genuine, is spoiled by general participation 
— the fashionable ladies of New York turn up their noses if 
you ask them to walk on the Battery on Sunday — quere, have 
they scruples of conscience, or scruples of delicacy? Neither — 
they have only scruples of gentility, which are quite different 
things. 

Custom-house* — this place much frequented by mer- 
chants — and why? — different classes of merchants — im- 
porters — a kind of nobility — wholesale merchants — have 
the privilege of going to the city assembly! — Retail traders 
cannot go to the assembly. — Some curious speculations 
on the vast distinction betwixt selling tape by the piece 
or by the yard. — Wholesale merchants look down upon 
the retailers, who in return look down upon the green- 
grocers, who look down upon the market-women, who don't 
care a straw about any of them. — Custom-house partly used 
as a lodging-house for pictures belonging to the academy 
of Arts. 

Bowling Green — fine place for pasturing cows — a perquisite 
of the late corporation — formerly ornamented with a statue of 
George the Third — people pulled it down in the war to make 
bullets — great pity ; it might have been given to the academy. 
— Broadway — great difference in the gentility of streets — 
a man who resides in Pearl street, or Chatham Row, derives 
no kind of dignity from his domicil; but place him in a certain 
part of Broadway, anywhere between the Battery and Wall 

* The old government-house facing Bowling Green, built for President 
Washington, afterwards the residence of Governors George Clinton and 
John Jay. See text. 



56 The World's Greatest Street 

Street, and he straightway becomes entitled to figure in the 
beau monde, and strut as a person of prodigious consequence! 
— Quere, whether there is a degree of purity in the air of that 
quarter which changes the gross particles of vulgarity into 
gems of refinement and polish? A question to be asked, but 
not to be answered ^ — New brick church! — What a pity it is 
the corporation of Trinity Church are so poor! — if they could 
not afford to build a better place of worship, why did they not 
go about with a subscription? — Even I would have given them 
a few shillings rather than our city should have been disgraced 
by such a pitiful specimen of economy. 

Barber's pole; three different orders of shavers in New York 
— those who shave pigs; — N.B. — freshmen and sophomores, — 
those who cut beards, and those who shave notes of hand; the 
last the most respectable . . . and call themselves gentlemen ; 
yea, men of honor! — Lottery offices — another set of capital 
shavers! — licensed gambling houses! good things enough, as 
they enable a few honest industrious gentlemen to humbug 
the people — according to law. — Messrs. Paff — beg pardon 
for putting them in such bad company, because they are a 
couple of fine fellows — mem. to recommend Michael's antique 
snuff-box to all amateurs in the art. — Eagle singing Yankee- 
doodle — N.B. — Buffon, Pennant and the rest of the naturalists 
all naturals not to know the eagle was a singing bird.^ 

Cortlandt Street corner — famous place to see belles go by — 

' The same idea is given in Halleck's poem Fanny. 

He woke in strength, Hke Samson from his slumber, 
And walked Broadway, enraptured the next day; 

Purchased a house there — I 've forgot the number — 
And signed a mortgage and a bond, for pay. 



The last removal fixed him: every stain 

Was blotted from his "household coat," and he 

Now "showed the world he was a gentleman," 
And what was better could afford to be. 

* The reference is to the sign of the Paffs, which was the picture of 
an eagle hanging from a tree in front of their door. 



Broadway to Wall Street 57 

quere, ever been shopping with a lady? — Oswego Market — - 
looks very much like a triumphal arch — Saw a cartman driving 
full tilt through Broadway — run over a child — good enough 
for it — what business had it to be in the way? — Hint concerning 
the law against pigs, goats, dogs, and cartmen — inquiry into the 
utility of making laws that are broken a hundred times in a 
day with impunity; — my Lord Coke's opinion on the subject; 
my Lord a very great man — so was Lord Bacon: a good story 
about a criminal named Hog claiming relationship with him. ' — 
Hogg's porter-house; — a great haunt of Will Wizard.^ — Hogg's 
a capital place for hearing the same stories, the same jokes, and 
the same songs every night in the year — mem. except Sunday 
nights; fine school for young politicians, too — some of the 
longest and thickest heads in the city come there to settle the 
nation. — Dey Street — ancient Dutch name of it, signifying 
murderer's valley, formerly the site of a great peach orchard; 
my grandmother's history of the famous Peach war — arose 
from an Indian stealing peaches out of this orchard ; good cause 
as need be for a war; just as good as the balance of power. — 
mem. — ran my nose against a lamp-post — conclude in great 
dudgeon. 

' The man Hog was convicted of heresy before Judge Bacon during 
the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was asked if he had anything to say why 
sentence should not be pronounced against him. "My lord, " he answered, 
"you would not disgrace the family by sentencing me to death; for your 
name being Bacon and mine Hog, we must be related." "You are mis- 
taken, my good man," returned the learned judge; "you are no relative 
of mine; for Hog doesn't become Bacon until it is smoked"; whereupon 
he sentenced the unfortunate heretic to the stake at Smithfield. — Author. 

^ One of the pseudonyms under which the trio of authors of the Salma- 
gundi papers — James Kirke Paulding and Washington and William 
Ir\-ing — wrote. 




CHAPTER IV 

FROM WALL STREET TO THE COMMONS 

N 1 696, the provincial assembly passed 
a law that each parish in the pro- 
vince should induct a good Protest- 
ant minister and pay his salary out 
of the rates. Governor Benjamin 
Fletcher, who was an active church- 
man, construed this to mean that 
the Established Church of England 
should become the Established Church of the province; 
and, notwithstanding considerable opposition succeeded 
in carrying his point. Thus Trinity came into being 
in 1696. The church edifice was enlarged in 1737 and 
destroyed in the fire of 1776. It was not rebuilt until 
1 791; and the structure of that date stood until 1839- 
40, when the present beautiful structure was begun. A 
quarter of a century ago, visitors to New York went to 
the top of Trinity steeple in order to get a view of the city 
which lay at their feet; and the most prominent object 
to any one approaching the city from any direction was 
the church spire, which stood above all other objects. 
Now, Trinity has been so dwarfed and surrounded by im- 
mensely high buildings that you cannot see the steeple 
until you are at the church itself. 

The church was usually spoken of in colonial days as 
' ' the English church ; ' ' and it was the f a shionable church of 

58 



From Wall Street to the Commons 



59 



the city which was attended by the government officials 
and by many of the wealthy merchants, especially those 
of English birth or descent. The bouwerie of the Dutch 
West India Company, lying along the Hudson without 
the wall, had become the king's farm, and this was granted 
to the church by Queen Anne, a very devout church woman 
to whom so many of our colonial churches were deeply 




BkoADWAV AND CORTLANDT STREET 

(From Valentine's Manual for 1859) 

indebted. The ringing of Trinity's chimes upon holidays 
and upon New Year's eve has become one of the customs 
of the city; though the ringing in of the new year has in 
late years become something of a farce owing to the noise 
of the crowds who drown out the music of the bells with 
discordant blasts of tin horns. The edifice has been the re- 
cipient of many beautiful and artistic gifts from its wealthy 
parishioners— the reredos, the bronze doors, and the stained 
glass windows being particularly beautiful memorials. 



6o The World's Greatest Street 

The ground upon which the church and graveyard 
stand was the plot set aside as a garden for the Dutch 
Company, The latter has been a burial place ever since 
the closure of the old Dutch burying-ground in 1676 or 
1677 ; and it has been stated that previous to 1822, 160,000 
bodies had been interred within its limits, though there is 
reason to believe that this number is greatly exaggerated. 
The yard contains the remains of many of New York's 
citizens of the olden time; but burials below Canal Street 
were prohibited in 18 13. Of the many prominent names 
which will attract a visitor to the graveyard, there are 
three that may be mentioned here. A stone sarcophagus 
on the left as we enter from Broadway contains the re- 
mains of Captain James Lawrence of the United States 
Frigate Chesapeake, which engaged in a fatal duel with the 
British frigate Shannon off Boston harbor on the first 
of June, 1 81 3, during which Lawrence was mortally 
wounded. In his delirium, he kept shouting, ''Don't 
give up the ship!'' Three months later, Oliver Hazard 
Perry went into battle on Lake Erie with Lawrence's dy- 
ing words upon his battle flag which he flew at the fore 
truck of his flagship, the Lawrence. When obliged to leave 
the sinking Lawrence, the battle flag went with him to 
the Niagara, from which he continued to direct the fight 
that ended in the destruction or capture of the British 
fleet.* 

Within a few feet of each other along the southern wall 
of the graveyard, overlooking Rector Street, are the graves 
of Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, and of 
Alexander Hamilton, "The patriot of incorruptible in- 
tegrity, the soldier of approved valor, the statesman of 
consummate wisdom, whose talents and virtues will be 

* Perry's battle flag is one of the most cherished relics at the United 
States Naval Academy at Annapolis. 



From Wall Street to the Commons 6i 

admired by grateful posterity long after this marble 
shall have mouldered into dust." 

Another grave which attracts the attention of the ro- 
mantically sentimental is that of Charlotte Temple, the 
heroine of an unfortunate eighteenth century love affair. 
In the upper part of the churchyard is a monument to the 
prison martyrs of the Revolution who died in New York. 
It is stated that this was erected by Trinity Corporation 
to prevent the city from cutting Pine Street through the 
graveyard, there being some law on the State's statute 
books to prevent the removal or injury of any public 
monument for purposes of highway improvement. 

The southwest corner of Rector Street was occupied 
at one time by a German Lutheran Church, erected 
about 1 7 10 by immigrants from the Palatinate who had 
been driven out of their desolated country by the armies 
of Louis XIV. The church was burnt in the fire of 1776, 
but was not rebuilt on this site. In 1809, there were some 
dissensions within the congregation of Trinity, and a 
number of the church members withdrew and erected a 
new church edifice on the site of the ''Burnt Lutheran 
Church." This was Grace Church, which, owing to the 
upward trend of population, moved to Tenth Street and 
Broadway in 1846. During the time it was located at 
Rector Street, it was as fashionable as any church in New 
York, and its pews commanded higher rents. 

The permission granted the inhabitants in 1707 to 
plant trees in front of their premises had in a few years 
resulted in the presence on Broadway of many beautiful 
trees which greatly enhanced the appearance of the street ; 
mention of which is made by many strangers who visited 
the city. The English officers called the section in front 
of Trinity "The Mall. " This was the place of the parade 
and the favorite lounging place of the officers and other 



62 The World's Greatest Street 

fashionables. Here the band played, and spectators of 
both sexes assembled on the east side of the street to 
listen to the music and to watch the fashionable world 
on promenade. 

Just above Trinity, between the present Thames and 
Liberty streets, stood the mansion of Etienne De Lancey, 
erected about the year 1700. De Lancey was a French 
Huguenot who had been obliged to leave France at the 
time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. 
He became a wealthy and influential merchant of New 
York and married into the Van Cortlandt family. One of 
his sons was James De Lancey, who became chief judge of 
the province after Morris had been removed by Governor 
Cosby, and lieutenant-governor under Clinton; another 
son was Peter, who inherited the mills on the Bronx River 
at West Farms, and a third was Oliver, who became a 
brigadier-general of Loyalists during the Revolution. 

In 1754, Edward Willett, one of the tavern keepers of 
the city, was attracted by the commanding position of 
the house and its fine view of the Hudson and rented it 
from Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey, the inheritor 
from his father Etienne, and opened it as a tavern under 
the name of the Province Arms. The New York Mercury 
of May 1 , 1 754, says : ' ' Edward Willet, who lately kept the 
' Horse and Cart Inn ' in this city, is removed into the house 
of the Honorable James De Lancey, Esq., Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, at the sign of the 'Province Arms, ' in the Broadway, 
near Oswego Market." The first event to start it on its 
long and brilliant career was a public dinner given in 1755 
to the new governor. Sir Charles Hardy. Hardy had 
been appointed successor to Sir Dan vers Osborne, who 
had committed suicide in the garden of John Murray's 
house, a short distance away on Broadway. The next 
public dinner of importance was that given in 1756, when 



From Wall Street to the Commons 63 

the lieutenant-governor of the province, the governors 
and students of the college, and many prominent mer- 
chants and others gathered here and marched to the laying 
of the corner-stone of King's College, the ancestor of 
Columbia University. At the conclusion of the ceremony, 
they all returned to the tavern where they partook of 
"a very elegant dinner." 

In May, 1763, Mr. George Bums, another of the city's 
innkeepers, moved from the King's Head in Whitehall 
Street to the Province Arms, and the place became known 
as Burns's Coffee House, though still called the Province 
Arms and the City Arms. A month after Burns assumed 
control, a lottery was drawn in the tavern for the con- 
struction of a light-house on Sandy Hook. Being so close 
to the Mall in front of Trinity churchyard, the inn be- 
came the favorite resort of the English ofhcers, and of 
the fashion of the city, sharing its honors, however, with 
another inn, also in a De Lancey house, the Queen's Head 
at Broad and Great Queen (Pearl) streets, better known 
as Fraunce's Tavern, and still in existence under the foster- 
ing care of the Sons of the Revolution. But it is as the 
headquarters of the Sons of Liberty that Burns's secures 
its historic interest and from the fact that notable meetings 
were held there marking the progress of revolutionary 
feeling. 

The first of these meetings was on the evening of Octo- 
ber 31, 1765, to take measures to controvert the Stamp 
Act, which was to go into effect the next day. The mer- 
chants of the city adopted the following resolutions: 
I , To import no goods from England until the Stamp Act 
be repealed; 2, to countermand all orders already sent for 
spring goods; 3, to sell no goods from England on com- 
mission; 4, to abide by these resolutions until they shall 
be rescinded at a general meeting called for the purpose. 



64 The World's Greatest Street 

This constituted the first non-importation agreement; 
and when the news of it was sent to the other colonies, 
they lost no time in passing similar resolutions. In ad- 
dition, a reward of five hundred pounds was offered for 
the detection of any villain who should make use of the 
stamped paper. 

Another meeting took place on the twenty-fifth of 
November, when the citizens assembled to renew the non- 
importation agreement and to frame an address to be pre- 
sented to the Assembly, complaining of the restrictions 
on trade, and especially protesting against the appeal 
from the decision of juries, which Colden was trying hard 
to introduce. This last, which was so objectionable to 
the inhabitants of 1765, has become an integral part of 
our jurisprudence; and he must indeed be a poverty- 
stricken client who does not in these days, either in a civil 
or criminal case, appeal from the decision of a jury. 

The tavern was used for other purposes than for indig- 
nation or political meetings of the inhabitants. It was 
the meeting place of St. Andrew's and similar societies 
and of the governors of King's College, who probably 
found it more comfortable to transact business in its genial 
atmosphere with a bottle of good wine before them than 
in the cold halls of education. Musical concerts were also 
given within the walls of the tavern and in the extensive 
grounds attached. In 1777, these gardens saw a fatal 
duel between Captain ToUemache of the Royal Navy and 
Captain Pennington of the Coldstream Guards. The 
duel was with swords; and a few days after the hostile 
meeting, Captain ToUemache was buried in Trinity 
churchyard. 

Burns remained here as host until 1770, when he was 
succeeded by Bolton, who came from the Queen's Head 
(Fraunce's) ; later, Hull assumed charge and had the honor 




65 



64 The World's Greatest Street 

This constituted the first non- importation agreement; 
and when the news of it was sent to the other colonies, 
they lost no time in passing similar resolutions. In ad- 
dition, a reward of five hundred pounds was offered for 
the detection of any villain who should make use of the 
stamped paper. 

Another meeting took place on the twenty-fifth of 
November, when the citizens assembled to renew the non- 
importation agreement and to frame an address to be pre- 
sented to the Assembly, complaining of the restrictions 
on trade, and especially protesting against the appeal 
from the decision of juries, which Colden was trying hard 
to introduce. This last, which was so objectionable to 
the inhabitants of 1765, has become an integral part of 
our jurisprudence; and he must indeed be a poverty- 
stricken client who does not in these days, either in a civil 
or criminal case, appeal from the decision of a jury. 

The tavern was used for other purposes than for indig- 
nation or political meetings of the inhabitants. It was 
the meeting place of St. Andrew's and similar societies 
and of the governors of King's College, who probably 
found it more comfortable to transact business in its genial 
atmosphere with a bottle of good wine before them than 
in the cold halls of education. Musical concerts were also 
given within the walls of the tavern and in the extensive 
grounds attached. In 1777, these gardens saw a fatal 
duel between Captain Tollemache of the Royal Navy and 
Captain Pennington of the Coldstream Guards. The 
duel was with swords; and a few days after the hostile 
meeting. Captain Tollemache was buried in Trinity 
churchyard. 

Burns remained here as host until 1770, when he was 
succeeded by Bolton, who came from the Queen's Head 
(Fraunce's) ; later, Hull assumed charge and had the honor 




65 



66 The World's Greatest Street 

of entertaining John Adams and his colleagues, who were 
on their way to the first meeting of the Continental 
Congress in Philadelphia in 1775. 

When the British left the city in November, 1783, 
John Cape leased the tavern and changed its name to 
the State Arms ; and on the second of December a great 
entertainment was given in honor of Washington and the 
return of peace. It had various hosts until 1792, when the 
property passed out of the possession of the De Lanceys 
and into that of the Tontine Association, which demolished 
the old building and erected the City Hotel on the site, 
the first building in the city to be roofed with slate. 

Dr. Francis says: "So long ago as 1802, I had the 
pleasure of witnessing the first social gathering of Ameri- 
can publishers at the old City Hotel, Broadway, an or- 
ganization under the auspices of the venerable Matthew 
Carey." Carey was from Philadelphia and one of the 
earliest publishers in the country. 

Until the opening of the Astor House in 1836, the City 
Hotel was the most famous in the city ; and it did not lose 
its prestige entirely until 1850, when it was torn down and 
replaced by a block of stores. In 1828, the building with 
lots, taking up the whole block between Thames and 
Liberty streets, was sold at public auction for $123,000; 
in 1833 it was damaged by fire. The hotel was famous 
not only for its excellent fare and service, but more es- 
pecially for the banquets that were held there and for the 
distinguished men who were entertained. During the 
War of 1 8 12, on the twenty-sixth of December of that 
year, a great banquet, at which five hundred gentlemen 
sat down, was given to the victorious naval commanders, 
Decatur, Hull, and Jones. Later, others were similarly 
honored. On May 30, 1832, upon Irving's return from 
abroad, he was tendered a banquet with Philip Hone in the 



From Wall Street to the Commons 67 

chair. The latter describes it as " a regular Knickerbocker 
affair." On February 18, 1842, during the first visit of 
Charles Dickens to this country he was entertained at 
dinner at the City Hotel, with Washington Irving in the 
chair as toastmaster. There were no clubs in those early 
days; but the leading hotels, the City and Washington 
Hall, had their own coteries of evening visitors who gath- 
ered for social intercourse and for discussion of affairs in 
which they were interested. On June 17, 1836, Colonel 
"Nick" Saltus as president formed the Union Club, the 
first organization of its kind in the city, and quarters 
were engaged at 343 Broadway as a club-house, which 
was opened June i, 1837. The Boreel building occupies 
the site of the old hotel at 115 Broadway, and upon its 
front an appropriate tablet has been placed by the Holland 
Society. 

The City Hotel was conducted by Willard and Jennings, 
the former of whom was the general factotum of the estab- 
lishment, while the latter looked after the provender and 
liquid refreshments, these latter being of incomparable 
quality and so famous that when the hotel was dismantled 
the bottles remaining in the cellar were sold at fabulous 
prices. Willard was never seen anywhere except in the 
hotel ; he was a man of cheerful disposition and indefatigable 
energy and was possessed of so wonderful a memory that 
he remembered every traveller who had ever stopped at the 
hotel ; and if the same guest were to visit the hotel again, 
Willard could at once greet him by name, tell where he 
was from, his business, and the room he had occupied. 
There is a well authenticated anecdote that when Billy 
Niblo moved from Pine Street and opened his suburban 
"Garden," many of his old customers were invited to be 
present at the opening. Willard neither accepted nor de- 
clined the invitation; and on the appointed evening a 



68 The World's Greatest Street 

number of the hon vivants of the town waited upon him to 
escort him to Niblo's. After bustHng about and looking 
into all sorts of places for a while, he announced to his 
friends that he could not accompany them as he had no hat, 
and that some one had taken an old beaver which had been 
lying about for years and which he claimed was his. A 
liat was procured from Charles St. John, the celebrated 
hatter, whose place was directly opposite, and the party 
sallied forth with the best-known man in the city, who, 
strange to relate, would have been compelled to ask his 
way if he had gone more than a block from the City Hotel. 
I* North of Trinity churchyard is the land formerly 
belonging to Jan Jansen Damen, two large portions of 
which came into the possession of Olaff Stevenson Van 
Cortlandt and Tunis Dey about the time that the English 
took the colony from the Dutch. The properties were 
divided up by the heirs of Van Cortlandt and Dey and 
sold as building lots, the first about 1733, and the latter 
about ten years later. Broadway was regulated from 
Dey to Fulton Street in 1760. In 1745, a lot at the south- 
west corner of Dey Street sold for seventy-five pounds ; 
in 1770, a lot near this sold for three hundred and eighty 
pounds, which shows that the land in this vicinity was 
becoming more desirable and increasing in value; yet in 
1785, just after the Revolution, Alderman Bayard sold 
full-sized lots at auction on Broadway below Fulton Street 
for twenty-five dollars ; but the price being so low, the sale 
was stopped. Of the houses that occupied this land noth- 
ing is known, as they were destroyed in the fire of 1776. 
Those erected in their places at first were of a temporary 
character; but about 1790 the street began to be lined by 
elegant brick mansions, occupied by the wealthiest and 
most fashionable families of the city. Broadway held 
this character of a .select, residential neighborhood until 




From a photograph by Geo. P. Hall & Son 
THE SINGER BUILDING 



C9 



70 The World's Greatest Street 

about 1840, when business began to creep in and the resi- 
dents moved farther up the street and to other sections. 

What a change has come over Broadway in the past 
twenty-five years! Where these private mansions of the 
wealthy once stood now rise those marvels of engineering 
skill, the great office buildings of the present. Here and 
there are a few of the more modest buildings still standing, 
sandwiched in between their huge neighbors and looking 
to the eyes of the present generation to be sadly out of 
place. It will not be long before they, too, disappear; and 
coming generations will scoff at the idea that upon these 
sites once stood three or four story buildings with exten- 
sive grounds sloping gently down to the bank of the Hud- 
son. In this wilderness of brick and stone there still stand 
the oases of Trinity and St. Paul's churchyards, of such 
enormous value that the time may come when they, too, 
may have to go for sacrifice upon the altar of business. 
May that time be afar off — they are too rich in historic 
associations to be treated as ordinary land. 

About 1874, there was established on the top of the 
Western Union Telegraph office at the corner of Dey 
Street, then one of the tallest and most prominent buildings 
in the city, a time ball, which was dropped at noon by 
means of telegraphic connection with the Naval Observa- 
tory in Washington. This was of inestimable service to the 
masters of vessels in the harbor, who were thus enabled 
to compare and adjust their ship chronometers; and the 
inhabitants of the city set their watches by it. It was 
no unusual sight to see hundreds of faces turned anxiously 
upward about twelve o'clock, their owners, with watch 
in hand, waiting for the signal of noon. The ball is still 
dropped, but the erection of so many high buildings be- 
tween the harbor and the Western Union has lessened its 
value to mariners. In consequence, the Hydrographic 



From Wall Street to the Commons 71 

Office has been experimenting for some time with a time 
Hght to be placed on the tower of the MetropoHtan Life 
building at Madison Square. As the light will be seven 
hundred feet above the street and will be visible for twenty 
miles, it is expected that the old usefulness of the time 
signal to mariners will be restored. 

In 1840, there were still living several people who re- 
membered when the site of St. Paul's, between Fulton 
and Vesey streets, was a wheat field. The church edifice, 
or more properly, chapel, was erected by Trinity Corpo- 
ration upon part of its farm in 1765, and opened the follow- 
ing year when the Rev. Mr. Auchmuty preached the 
dedication sermon. It is one of the three buildings of a 
public, or semi-public, character, dating from pre-Revolu- 
tionary days that still stand upon the island of Manhat- 
tan.* During the great fire of 1776 it was saved by the 
comparative flatness of its roof which permitted people 
to stay upon it and extinguish the burning brands which 
otherwise would have set it on fire. 

After his inauguration in 1789 Washington attended 
the service at St. Paul's given in honor of the occasion; 
and as Trinity was still in ruins, he continued to attend 
St. Paul's during the time New York was the capital 
of the country. Governor George Clinton of New York 
also attended services at the same place, and the pews 
occupied by these distinguished men on opposite sides 
of the church are appropriately marked by mural tablets, 
one bearing the coat of arms of the United States, and the 
other, that of New York. Within the churchyard the 
visitor can find upon the tombstones many of the historic 
names of the city. This yard is a favorite resort of many 

* The others are Fraunce's Tavern at the corner of Broad and Pearl 
streets, and the Roger Morris, or "Jumel, " mansion on Washington 
Heights. 



72 The World's Greatest Street 

of the women clerks of the down-town district who come 
here with book and luncheon on the hot days of summer 
and pass the noon hour in the shade and coolness of the 
trees. 

Upon the Broadway front of the church is a mural 
tablet to the memory of that gallant Irishman and soldier, 
Major-General Richard Montgomery, one of the earliest 
victims of the Revolution. He was killed in the assault 
upon Quebec, December 31, 1775. His body was re- 
covered by the British commander, Sir Guy Carleton, 
and buried with appropriate honors. In 1818, the State of 
New York caused his remains to be removed to St. Paul's 
from Quebec with high honors, and the United States 
erected the tablet. Montgomery had been an officer of 
the British army and had been at the siege of Quebec 
under Wolfe. His prospects of advancement being poor, 
he resigned from the army and came to America, first 
settling at Kingsbridge. He married Janet Livingston, 
and thus became allied with one of the most powerful 
families of the province. At the outbreak of the Revo- 
lution he was made a brigadier-general and was ordered as 
second in command to Schuyler in the Canadian expedi- 
tion of 1775. Owing to Schuyler's illness, the command 
devolved upon Montgomery, who was made a major- 
general before the fatal assault upon the citadel of Quebec. 
Upon the bold promontory of Cape Diamond, one can 
read from the river St. Lawrence a sign maintained by 
the Canadians, "Here Montgomery fell, December 31, 

1775." 

On the east side of the thoroughfare above Wall Street, 

the same conditions prevailed as below the latter street. 
Among the hotels were the Tremont Temperance House 
at Number no, the New York Athenasum established in 
1824 at the corner of Pine Street, and the National Hotel 



i 







From an etching by Eliza Greatorex 

ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL IN 1875 

73 



74 The World's Greatest Street 

established in 1825 at Number 112, corner of Cedar Street. 
The name of WilUam Cullen Bryant is attached to the 
highway in the fact that in his earlier days he edited the 
New York Review ajid AthencBiim, whose office was in 
the building at the corner of Broadway and Pine Street, 
and for fifty-two years he was the editor of the New York 
Evening Post, located in its later days and at present at 
the corner of Fulton Street and Broadway. 

The Equitable Life Insurance building, opposite Trin- 
ity, may be considered as the pioneer of the modern high 
office buildings. It was erected in 1870, and for many 
years afterwards the United States Weather Bureau 
had its quarters on the roof. In the coiirse of time, the 
building was over-topped by its neighbors, and the bureau 
found lodgment in the tower of the Manhattan Life In- 
surance building at a height of three hundred and fifty-one 
feet above the street. In 1887, several additional stories 
were added to the Equitable Building. 

The earliest printing-press in the city was set up in 
Hanover Square, and here Gaines, Weymouth, and Riv- 
ington located and issued their journals. Among earlier 
publishers and booksellers in the thirties was Jonathan 
Leavitt, in the two story building at the corner of Broad- 
way and John Street. Leavitt's brother-in-law was 
Daniel Appleton, who came from the dry-goods trade 
to take care of the wholesale part of the book business, 
and who, in 1825, started at 200 Broadway the great 
publishing house which bears his name. T. & J. Swords 
were "the ancient Episcopal publishers in Broadway," 
whose imprint may be found as early as 1792. Elam Bliss 
catered to the reading public from his shop on the site of 
the Trinity buildings and was the publisher of the Talis- 
man, the first of the annuals, whose editors were Bryant, 
Verplanck, and Robert C. Sands. G. & C. Carvell, the 



From Wall Street to the Commons 



/o 



English successors of the more famous Eastburn, were 
on the corner of Wall Street and Broadway and had the 
most extensive retail trade in the city, their place being 
the resort of the literati equally with that of Bliss on the 
opposite side of the street. On the first of January, 1833, 
the first number of the Knickerbocker Magazine was issued 
from its office on Broadway under the editorship of Charles 
Fenno Hoffman, to whose sister Washington Irving was 
engaged to be married; her untimely death and the grief 
of it kept Irving a bachelor all his life. Hoffman was 
editor for a few months only, giving up the position on 
account of ill health and being succeeded by Lewis Gay- 
lord Clark, who conducted the magazine for over a score 
of years. 

In Jones and Newman's Pictorial Directory of New 
York, 1848, the following booksellers are given on Broad- 
way: east side, D. Appleton & Co., 202; Bangs, Richards 
& Piatt (auctioneers), 204; Stringer & Townsend, 222 (all 
these below the Park) ; and William Rudde at 322 whose 
sign reads "Homeopathic Medicines and Books." On 
the west side were Stanford & Swords, 139; G. P. Putnam, 
155; John Wiley, 161; Cooley, Keese & Hill (auctioneers), 
191; Leavitt, Trow & Co., at the same number; Mark 
H. Newman & Co., 199; Clark, Austin & Co., 205; 
Charles S. Francis & Co., 253; Carter & Brothers, 285; 
and Beraud & Mondon, 315, immediately south of the 
entrance of the New York Hospital. The picture 
of their place of business reads "Publishers of Forcing 
Books," probably a misspelling on the part of Jones & 
Newman. The names of many of these booksellers still 
appear in New York firms. 

In the Croaker Papers (1819) by Halleck and Drake, 
we run across several Broadway notables in one verse of 
the Ode to Fortune. 



76 The World's Greatest Street 

The horse that once a week I ride, 

At Mother Dawson's eats his fill; 
My books at Goodrich's abide, 

My country-seat is Weehawk hill; 
My morning lounge is Eastburn's shop, 

At Poppleton's I take my lunch, 
Niblo prepares my mutton-chop, 

And Jennings makes my whiskey-punch. 

Robert Dawson was the keeper of a livery stable at 
Number 9, Dey Street, just off Broadway; A. T. Goodrich 
& Co. were booksellers at the corner of Broadway and 
Cedar Street, who kept a popular circulating library; 
James Eastburn & Co. were publishers and booksellers at 
the corner of Broadway and Pine Street, whose "rooms" 
were the favorite resort of men of letters and of leisure; 
Mrs. Poppleton kept a fashionable confectionery shop at 
206 Broadway ; Niblo was then at William and Pine streets, 
and Chester Jennings was mine host of the City Hotel. 
Another popular shop was that referred to elsewhere by 
the poets as " Cullen's Magnesian Shop. " It was located 
at the corner of Park Place and sold ice-cream and soda- 
water ; it was the most highly embellished shop of its kind 
in the city. 

During the first decade of the nineteenth century, 
James Sharpless, the English portrait painter, was to be 
seen on Broadway; and at a later period, John Trumbull, 
the distinguished American historical painter. One of the 
"roasts" administered by the Croakers was against Trum- 
bull's famous picture of the Signing of the Declaration 
of Independence, the particular object of the attack being 
the "woodiness" of the Signers, all drawn, apparently, 
whether seated or standing, from the same model. 

Secretary Van Tienhoven's plantation lay above 
Maiden Lane to a point about midway between Fulton 



From Wall Street to the Commons ']'] 

and Ann streets, and comprised about sixteen acres of 
land. It was decreed in 1674 that the process of tanning 
constituted a nuisance, and all engaged in that industry 
were required to move their pits beyond the city wall. 
Within a year or two, four shoemakers who did their own 
tanning bought what was virtually Van Tienhoven's old 
grant, which became known in consequence as the "shoe- 
makers' land. " In 1696, Maiden Lane was regulated, and 
the land of the shoemakers was cut up into one hundred 
and sixty lots. Eventually, they had to move their busi- 
ness to the neighborhood of the Freshwater pond and to 
Beekman's swamp, at which latter place are gathered the 
dealers in hides and leather of the present. 

In an advertisement of 1763, notice is given that "The 
Bake House at the corner of John Street is for sale ; it 
has a bolting house and a new cistern annexed, and is for 
sale by G. Van Bomel. " When, in 1775, at the comer 
of Broad and Beaver streets, Marinus Willett stopped the 
British soldiers from removing the arms, he mounted the 
first cart and drove to the place of Abraham Van Wyck, 
a staunch Whig, who kept a ball-alley at the corner of John 
Street and Broadway and deposited the captured arms in 
Van Wyck's yard. This was a favorite place with the 
Sons of Liberty ; later, when the Hearts of Oak were formed, 
the arms were used for equipping these rather irregular 
militia. An advertisement of 1769 reads: "Mary Mor- 
comb, mantua maker from London, at Isaac Garniers, 
opposite to Battoc Street in the Broadway, makes all 
sorts of negligees, Brunswick dresses, gowns, and other 
apparel of ladies, also covers Umbrellas in the neatest 
manner." 

For many years after the Revolution, New York had 
visitations of that dread West Indian disease, yellow fever. 
When the fever was in the city the residents used to flee 



78 The World's Greatest Street 

to their country places, to Greenwich, or to other suburban 
villages. There were epidemics in 1791, 1795, and 1798, 
this last being the most virulent and carrying off 2086 
persons, exclusive of those who fled from the city. The 
population at that time was fifty-five thousand. During 
the height of the disease the churches were closed, business 
was at a standstill, and the banks moved their offices to 
Bank Street (whence the name) in Greenwich Village. 
The post-office was removed to the house of Dr. James 
Tillary on the corner of Broadway and Wall Street, and the 
citizens came from their retreats in the country between 
the hours of nine a.m. and sundown, during which time 
physicians said it was safe to visit the city. There were 
several outbreaks of fever in later years, but the establish- 
ment of the quarantine at Staten Island in 1801 has for 
many years effectually prevented anything but sporadic 
cases. 

A visitor of 1 845 speaks of the noise and confusion on 
Broadway at that time. In the writer's boyhood, it was 
almost as much as his small Hfe was worth to cross Broad- 
way below Fulton Street. I think the truck drivers pur- 
posely went out of their way to enjoy the sights along the 
great thoroughfare and to show to pedestrians and their 
fellow drivers and those on the buses their capabilities in the 
way of what Mrs. Gamp would have called "langwidge," 
when their progress was blocked by other carts . So danger- 
ous was the passage at Fulton Street, although there were 
in those days no surface cars to increase the difficulties of 
getting across, that an iron bridge called the Loew bridge, 
was erected at this point across Broadway. It was com- 
pleted in May, 1867; but pedestrians preferred the 
dangers of the street to the task of climbing the stairs — - 
this was before the days of the elevated railroads — and so 
the bridge was removed in 1868. The widening of other 



From Wall Street to the Commons 



79 



streets convenient to the water front, and the establishment 
of the "Broadway Squad" of police, six footers, every one 
of them, and the present traffic squad have lessened the 
dangers to a minimum; though it is still difficult for 
him who is not born a New Yorker, or who has not been 
caught early and learned the ins and outs of metropolitan 



n^ ''"i III 

,f "! '1 , I* 



ijr|li,i,,^iiB|iR 





THE LOEW BRIDGE AT FULTON STREET AND BROADWAY 

life, to cross Broadway between the Bowling Green and 
Manhattan Street. 

Broadway has been the favorite route of parades and 
processions from the earliest times until within the last 
decade. We have already mentioned Colve's march to 
the fort in 1673, the evacuation of the city by the British 
in 1783, and the Hamilton parade of 1789. Washington 
Irving gives in his amusing Knickerbocker' s History of 
New York the following description of the gathering of 
Stuyvesant's warriors for the attack upon the Swedes on 
the Delaware : 



8o The World^s Greatest Street 

But I refrain frompursuing this minute description, which 
goes on to describe the warriors of Bloemen-dael, and Wee- 
hawk, and Hoboken, and sundry other places, well known in 
history and song — for now do the notes of martial music alarm 
the people of New Amsterdam, sounding afar from the walls 
of the city. But this alarm was in a little while relieved, for 
lo, from the midst of a vast cloud of dust, they recognized the 
brimstone-colored breeches and splendid silver leg of Peter 
Stuyvesant, glaring in the sunbeams; and beheld him approach- 
ing at the head of a formidable army, which he had mustered 
along the banks of the Hudson. And here the excellent but 
anonymous writer of the Stuyvesant manuscript breaks out 
into a brave and glorious description of the forces, as they de- 
filed through the principal gate of the city, that stood by the 
head of Wall-street. 

First of all came the Van Bummels, who inhabit the pleasant 
borders of the Bronx. . . . Close in their rear marched the 
VanVlotens.of Kaatskill. . . . After them came the Van Pelts, 
of Groodt Esopus. . . . Then the Van Nests, of Kinderhoeck. 
. . . Then the Van Higginbottoms, of Wapping's creek. . . . 
Then the Van Grolls, of Anthony's Nose. . . . Then the 
Gardeniers, of Hudson and thereabouts. . . . Then the Van 
Hoesens, of vSing Sing. . . . Then the Couenhovens, of Sleepy 
Hollow. . . . Then the Van Kortlandts, who lived on the wild 
banks of the Cro ton. , . . ThentheVanBunschotens,of Nyack 
and Kakiat. , . . Then the Van Winkles, of Haerlem. . . . 
Lastly came the knickerbockers, of the great town of 
Scaghticoke. . . . These derive their name, as some say, from 
Knicker, to shake, and Beker, a goblet, indicating thereby 
that they were sturdy toss-pots of yore; but in truth, it was 
derived from Knicker, to nod, and Boeken, books; plainly 
meaning that they were great nodders or dozers over books — 
from them descends the writer of this history. 

Such was the legion of sturdy bush-beaters that poured in 
at the grand gate of New Amsterdam; the Stuyvesant manu- 
script indeed speaks of many more, whose names I omit to 
mention, seeing it behooves me to hasten to matters of greater 



82 The World's Greatest Street 

moment. Nothing could surpass the joy and martial pride 
of the lion-hearted Peter as he reviewed this mighty host of 
warriors, and he determined no longer to defer the gratification 
of his much-wished-for revenge upon the scoundrel Swedes of 
Fort Casimir.* 

Among the parades which have taken place since 1800, 
we may mention the Hudson bi-centenary in 1809, the 
reception to Lafayette in 1824, that in honor of the revo- 
lution in France in 1830, the admission of Croton water in 
1842, the reception to the Hungarian patriot Kossuth in 

1851 , the processions in honor of Alfred Edward, Prince of 
Wales (the late Edward VI.) and of the first Japanese 
embassy in 1861, the German parade in 1872 at the con- 
clusion of the war between Prussia and France, the Wash- 
ington centenary of 1889, and the Columbus parade of 1892 
in commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of 
the discovery of America. Among the funerals, some 
of them actual and some commemorative, have been those 
of Hamilton in 1804, Montgomery in 1818, Andre in 1821, 
when his remains were removed from Tappan to England, 
President Monroein 1835, President Harrison in 1840, Pres- 
ident Taylor in 1850, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in 

1852, General Worth in 1857, President Lincoln in 1865, 
General Grant in 1885, and Governor and Vice-President 
George Clinton in 1909, when his body was brought back 
to the state for which he did so much after its century-long 
rest in the cemetery at Washington, where he had died while 
vice-president . In the older days, there were parades every 
year upon the Fourth of July and upon Evacuation Day, 
November twenty-fifth. In war times there have been 

* The etymology of the names and the description of the peculiarities 
and characteristics of this valiant army of Dutchmen are too long to be 
given here, but they are highly amusing and well repay reading. 




PETER STUYVESANT'S ARMY ENTERING NEW AMSTERDAM 



S,f Km<k,rl«Kk,r, "Jlisim oj New Y«rk:' f-s" 39'-S<M- 



From Wall Street to the Commons 83 

the departure of the troops and their return, and innumer- 
able minor parades; but we must not leave out the great 
paradesof the merchants and business men of the city at the 
time of presidential elections within the last twenty years, 
when as many as one hundred thousand men, not soldiers, 
marched from the Bowling Green to Madison Square. 
The last great parade was the reception tendered to ex- 
President Theodore Roosevelt on June 18, 19 10, upon his 
home-coming after a year spent in Africa and Europe. 

The growth of the city in area and population has 
caused the route of the great processions to be changed to the 
upper part of the city from One Hundred and Tenth Street 
by way of Central Park West, and Fifth Avenue to the 
Washington Arch at Fourth Street. Now, Broadway is 
used once a year (and it nearly always rains) for the annual 
parade of the Old Guard; and there is a parade nearly 
every day in the year of strange looking people, with 
peculiar dress and language, with multitudinous children 
and boxes and bundles, finding their way from Ellis Island 
to the tenements of the city — later, to become citizens of 
the Great Republic and to add to its wealth and glory. 




CHAPTER V 

THE COMMONS, OR FIELDS 

ROBABLY no piece of ground in the 
city of New York has been the scene 
of more historical happenings than 
the City Hall Park. One historian 
of the city has said: "What Fan- 
euil Hall was to Boston, was the 
Commons of New York — the gath- 
ering place of the patriots, the 
cradle of Liberty." 

In the old Dutch days, it was an open and waste tract 
of land, which, being level, was called by them the 
Vlacte, or Flat. It began as a common cow pasture to 
which the cattle of the inhabitants below the wall were 
driven daily. It was then almost square in shape, lying 
between Ann Street on the south and Chambers Street 
on the north, with Broadway and Nassau Street as its 
western and eastern boundaries. The Collect pond 
with the surrounding land, lying north of the Flat, was 
also common property, but was not included in the 
Fields. It must be remembered that the Fields were 
in use long before the boundary streets mentioned 
above existed, even as lanes. 

From the head of Great George Street a road found its 

84 



The Commons, or Fields 



85 



way to the Bowery Lane along the southern and eastern 
sides of the Fields — this was the Heerewegh of the Dutch. 
This road, which afterwards became Chatham Street 
and Park Row, was the ancestor of the Boston Post- 
road, or the Great Highway to Boston. In the time of 
Governor Dongan, the road was laid out diagonally 
across the Fields, and the triangular southern section 
thus cut off was appropriated by the governor for his 
own use in 1686. It was used later for many years as a 
place of amusement and was called the Vineyard. 

The part left of the Fields was triangular in shape 




The Collect 



and was bounded by Broadway, Chambers Street, and 
Chatham Street. When the Bowling Green was en- 
closed in 1732, the Fields became the open-air meeting- 
place of the inhabitants of the city, and to it were 
transferred the bonfires, the patriotic celebrations of the 
King's birthday, Guy Fawkes's Day, and other holidays, 
the indignation meetings. Maypole dances, and similar 
occurrences which had been held in the Bowling Green. 

In his novel of Satanstoe, Cooper gives an account 
of the celebration upon the Fields of the old Dutch 
holiday of Pfingster, with its games, its booths, and the 
freedom allowed on that day to the negro slaves. But 
Pfingster and New Year's day and the other celebrations 



86 The World^s Greatest Street 

of Dutch ancestry, with the exception of Christmas, St. 
Nicholas's Day, have fallen into disuse, chiefly through 
the fact that some of them degenerated into orgies. 
The change in our population from Dutch and Knicker- 
bocker about the middle of the last century may also 
have affected the observance of these ancient holidays. 
It is a curious fact that Christmas, the great Christian 
holiday, when "good will toward men" is shown prin- 
cipally in the giving of presents to relatives and friends, 
should redound to the benefit of the Hebrews, as most 
of our great department stores are owned by people of 
that race. It must be said, however, that the practice 
of gift-giving at that joyous period of the year is not 
limited to any race or creed. The observance of the 
Christmas holidays along the " Great White Way" would, 
I suspect, astonish the ancient Romans, could they be 
present, to see how much further the moderns have gone 
in celebrating their pagan feast of Saturnalia, from which 
our Christmas is derived. 

When the Dutch fleet appeared off the city in 1673 
and demanded its surrender, the vacillating conduct of 
the English commander. Captain John Manning, moved 
the Dutch admirals to energetic measures. Six hundred 
troops under Captain Anthony Colve landed on the 
island north of the wall and marched to the Fields, where 
they encamped and prepared to advance upon the city. 
The terrified English commander sent three agents to 
parley with Colve; but as they had nothing definite 
to offer in the way of terms, Colve kept two of them as 
hostages and sent the third with a peremptory message 
to Manning to surrender the fort within a quarter of 
an hour. The messenger. Captain Carr, thought more 
of his own safety than he did of delivering the message, 
and so, having gained the city within the gate, got away 







.^m 










i^'^^'m ^. 










J^^. 










^'^L*^"?? "^^"^1,' 



87 



88 The World's Greatest Street 

from the island as quickly as he could. At the end of 
the quarter hour, a Dutch trumpeter was sent for an 
answer to the summons to surrender and was told that 
none had been received. "This is the third time they 
have fooled us," exclaimed the exasperated Colve; 
"they shall fool us no more — march." 

The Dutch at once proceeded down Broadway through 
the land gate without resistance ; but as they approached 
the fort, they were met by a messenger from Manning, 
offering to make a full surrender if the garrison were 
allowed to march out with the honors of war. This the 
Dutch agreed to; but it is greatly to their discredit that 
they did not keep to their bargain, for a number of the 
English soldiers were seized and imprisoned, their bag- 
gage plundered, and many of them were sent away in 
the Dutch ships which also carried their unfortunate 
commander. Manning was tried by court-martial in 
1674, after the English recovery of the province, on 
charges of cowardice and treachery. His defence was a 
good one; but he was convicted and sentenced to death, 
commuted on account of his influence at court to having 
his sword broken over his head by the public executioner 
in front of the fort and to be incapable of holding any 
civil or military position under the crown. It paid to 
have "pull" in those days as well as in these. 

Under the governorship of Colve, everything assumed 
a military character, as the Dutch were afraid the Eng- 
lish, smarting under the loss of this valuable province, 
would make a determined effort to recover it. The forts 
and palisades were repaired and strengthened, and the 
Fields became the place of general drill and parade. 
The city gates were locked every night and the keys 
given to the officers of the fort, while a patrol of six 
burghers guarded each gate during the night. At sun- 




<idddi^ 



89 



90 The World's Greatest Street 

rise, the gates were unlocked by the schout and the keys 
returned again to the fort. 

It was here on the lower end of the Fields, in full 
view of his own country-house, that Jacob Leisler and 
his son-in-law Milborne were executed on a gallows 
especially erected for the purpose. The day was in 
May, 1 69 1, and a cold, drizzling, spring rain prevailed — 
a fitting day for such a fell purpose. 

The place of public execution was removed from the 
vicinity of the fort to the Fields in 1725, and a gallows 
stood until 1755 not far from the corner of Chambers 
and Chatham streets. Many of the victims of the 
negro plot of 1 741 were executed here, some of them 
being burned to death. A powder-house was the first 
public building on the Commons — a safe place, as it was 
so far removed from neighbors in the event of an ex- 
plosion. It was placed where the old Hall of Records 
stood for so many years, opposite the Brooklyn Bridge, 
but it was removed in 1728 to an island in the Collect. 
In 1742, Joseph Paulding leased a part of the Fields 
and built a large brick-kiln, the clay being dug out 
from the land nea • the Collect. There were also 
several kilns erected for the burning of oyster shells for 
lime. 

In 1734, the first poor-house was erected on the site 
of the present county court-house. It was forty-six 
feet long, twenty-four feet wide, and two stories high, 
with a cellar — all of gray stone. It was furnished with 
spinning-wheels, leather and tools for shoemaking, 
knitting needles, flax, etc., for the employment of the in- 
mates. All paupers were required to work under penalty 
of mild punishments, and parish children were taught 
the three "R's" and employed at useful labor. The 
house was also used for the correction of unruly slaves. 




-"^Sftr--- 



91 



92 The World's Greatest Street 

A vegetable garden was laid out near the house, and the 
inmates cultivated it for the use of the institution. 

The Bridewell, a prison for vagrants, for those guilty 
of minor offences, and for those awaiting trial, was erected 
in 1775, just previous to the Revolution. It stood facing 
Broadway between that thoroughfare and the west 
wing of the City Hall. It was a two story building of 
gray stone ; and at the time of the capture of Fort Wash- 
ington in November, 1776, it was still unfinished, the 
windows being unglazed, and there was nothing to keep 
out the cold except the iron bars. Into this cheerless 
and uncomfortable building over eight hundred of 
Magaw's captured garrison were thrust on the day of 
their capture, November sixteenth, and left three days 
without food or fuel. It was used throughout the Revo- 
lution as a prison for American prisoners. The land 
upon which it stood had been purchased in 1770 by the 
Sons of Liberty for the erection of a liberty-pole. After 
the Revolution, the title to the land was still vested in 
John Lamb and others, who, upon being asked by the 
city what he would sell for, replied, "For the cost, eighty 
dollars, and the interest." The city agreed, but the 
purchase was never consummated. The Bridewell was 
demolished in 1838, and the stone of which it was built 
was used in the Tombs prison, then in course of construc- 
tion. 

A more famous, or rather, infamous, building than 
the Bridewell also stood in the Commons, northeast 
of the City Hall. The old City Hall in Wall Street 
(erected in 1699) had been used as a jail and debtor's 
prison. Its place was taken by the New Jail, erected 
in the Commons about 1759, as in April, 1758, there ap- 
pears the published notice of the drawing of a lottery 
to build it. During the Revolution, it contained the 



The Commons, or Fields 



93 



office of the Provost-Marshal Cunningham, and thus 
obtained the title of the "Provost" prison. Here were 
confined the officers of the American army and any of 
the leading patriots from civil life who were so un- 
fortunate as to fall into the hands of the British. The 
indignities and privations inflicted upon his unhappy 
prisoners by Cunningham and the commissary of pris- 




From the drawing by F. B. Nichols 

THE HALL OF RECORDS 



oners, Loring, constitute the most horrible chapter of 
the Revolution. 

Cunningham boasted openly that he had killed more 
enemies of the king than the armies of Howe, Clinton, 
Burgoyne, and Cornwallis combined. If his victims 
were not killed outright, and it is stated that many of 
them were deliberately starved and poisoned, they were 
so debilitated, and their constitutions so shattered by 



94 The World's Greatest Street 

their hardships that they were physically ruined for 
both civil and military life. This was done with several 
objects in view. In the event of their deaths, Cunning- 
ham and his creatures continued to draw the allowance 
for their maintenance; the course of inhuman cruelty 
drove some of the prisoners into the British ranks in 
order to escape the daily tortures inflicted upon them, 
the British holding out enlistment as an alluring bait 
and surcease to their sufferings; or, if they did not die 
or enlist, then in the event of their exchange their harsh 
treatment and lack of food had rendered them worthless 
as soldiers. Of over three thousand Americans captured 
at Fort Washington on November i6, 1776, but eight 
hundred were reported as living when an exchange of 
prisoners took place on May 6, 1778, a year and a half 
after their capture. 

The Provost and the old City Hall in Wall Street 
remained as prisons until the evacuation. An eye- 
witness. General Johnson, thus describes what he saw 
at that time. 

I was in New York, November 25 [he says] and at the 
Provost about 10 a.m. A few British criminals were yet 
in custody, and O'Keefe [Cunningham's sergeant and jailer] 
threw his ponderous bunch of keys on the floor and retired, 
when an American guard relieved the British guard, which 
joined a detachment of British troops, then on parade on 
Broadway, and marched down to the Battery, where they 
embarked for England. 

The building was originally of rough stone, three 
stories in height, with dormer windows and a cupola. 
After the return of peace, it was again used as a debtor's 
prison. In 1830, it was remodelled by cutting off all 
above the second story and covering it with a roof of 



The Commons, or Fields 95 

slight pitch, sheathed with copper; a Grecian portico 
was added to both northern and southern entrances, 
and the sides covered with stucco in imitation of marble. 
When it was finished, it resembled in miniature the 
Greek Temple of Diana at Ephesus, which had served 
as its model. The intention was to render the building 
fireproof, as the alterations were for the purpose of 
converting it into a repository of the land records of 
the city and county of New York. In 1832, before the 
alterations were completed, cholera visited the city, 
and the building was used as a hospital. When it was 
completed, in 1834, the offices of the register, comptroller, 
street commissioner, and surrogate were established in it; 
but in 1869 the whole building was turned over to the 
register for his sole use, the records of the city having 
assumed vast proportions. The "New Jail," or "Pro- 
vost," was finally demolished in 1904 to make way for 
the subway under the eastern side of the park; and the 
legal records were transferred to the magnificent new 
Hall of Records on the north side of Chambers Street. 
Another building, occupied by the apparatus of the fire 
department, stood at the northeast corner of the park 
for many years and was torn down at the same time as 
the "Provost." 

In the last decade of the eighteenth century, the 
Almshouse and the House of Correction still stood at 
the northern end of the park, with the Bridewell and 
the "Provost" on either side. Between the Almshouse 
and the Bridewell was the gallows, which had been re- 
moved in 1755 to the vicinity of the Five Points, but 
which was moved back to the Commons in 1784. In 
1796, the old almshouse was so dilapidated as to be 
unfit for further use, and a new one was built in rear of it 
on Chambers Street, to which the inmates were removed 



96 The World's Greatest Street 

in 1797, and the old building was demolished. In 18 16, 
another new almshouse was erected on the East River 
near Bellevue Hospital, which was, in time, removed 
to Randall's Island, The vacated Chambers Street 
almshouse was like a row of six three- story dwellings. 
It was remodelled after the removal of the paupers and 
called the New York Institution. In 1816, the Ameri- 
can Museum of John Scudder removed from Chatham 
Street, where it had been since 1810, to the west end 
of the New York Institution. 

It remains 
To bless the hour the Corporation took it 
Into their heads to give the rich in brains 
The worn-out mansion of the poor in pocket. 
Once "the old almshouse " now a school of wisdom, 
Sacred to Scudder's shells and Dr. Griscom.* 

Halleck. 

On March 26, 1818, the first savings bank ever 
operated in the city was opened in a basement room; 
it was called at first the Chambers Street Bank, and later 
the Bleecker Street Savings Bank; it is now at Fourth 
Avenue and Twenty-second Street. In 1824, the first 
Egyptian mummy ever exhibited in this country was 
shown in the basement of the building. 

In colonial days, the British soldiers in the city looked 
with considerable contempt upon the provincials, and 
their officers often had trouble in keeping them within 
bounds, as they were habitual breakers of the public 
peace. In 1764, one of their escapades reached the point 
of being a riot. Having imbibed freely of rum, they 
conceived the idea of freeing the prisoners and marched 

* Dr. John Griscom was a highly esteemed Quaker physician who de- 
livered lectures on chemistry in his office in the old almshouse. 



The Commons, or Fields 97 

to the New Jail and demanded the keys of the keeper. 
Upon his refusal to surrender them, the excited soldiers 
fired through the door, grazing the ear of one of their 
officers. Major Rogers, who was confined for debt and 
whose release was the prime object of the attack. They 
then forced the door and told the prisoners they were 
free and attempted to carry off their major in triumph. 
The prisoners seemed unwilling to leave, and the soldiers 
attempted to drive them out; but the arrival of the city 
militia soon quelled the incipient riot and the ringleaders 
were arrested. Upon their trial, they accused Rogers 
of being the instigator of the attempt at rescue; but the 
affair was passed lightly by, like most similar affairs of 
the British soldiery. 

In 1763, Lord Grenville, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
proposed to Parliament to raise a permanent revenue 
from the colonies by direct taxation. The principal 
source of this revenue was to be by means of stamps 
affixed to all mercantile and legal papers, to newspapers, 
almanacs, pamphlets, etc. In addition, an army of 
ten thousand men was to be maintained in the colonies, 
ostensibly to protect them, but really to coerce and over- 
awe them. Notwithstanding the protests of the colonial 
governments, the Stamp Act was passed, March 22, 
1765, news of which reached New York early in April. 
During the debate upon the bill in the House of Commons, 
Barre used the term "Sons of Liberty" in referring to 
the American colonists. The term was apt, and there 
sprung into being throughout the colonies a number of 
semi-secret societies whose aim was to oppose British 
exactions; though the New York society was really a 
revival of a similar club which had been formed thirty 
years before at the trial of Zenger for libel. In July 
they gave evidence of their alertness when four fishermen 



98 The World's Greatest Street 

who supplied the city markets were seized by a press- 
gang and sent on board a British tender in the harbor. 
The next morning the captain of the tender came ashore 
in his barge, which was at once seized by the indignant 
people and carried off to the Commons. The frightened 
captain offered to release the four men and signed the 
order, which was taken to the ship by a party of the 
Sons of Liberty who returned with the impressed fisher- 
men; but in the meantime the boat had been burnt. 

The Stamp Act was to go into effect on the first of 
November; but on October seventh, twenty-eight dele- 
gates from nine of the colonies met in New York at the 
first congress of the colonies, usually termed the "Stamp 
Act Congress," to protest against the enforcement of 
the act. On the night of November first, there followed 
the demonstration on the Commons and at the fort 
already described in Chapter II., in which Colden's 
effigy was burned. The next morning there was another 
assemblage on the Commons, which resolved to march 
to the fort and demand the surrender of the paper; but 
Colden, alarmed at the prospect of trouble, announced 
his intention to have nothing more to do with the stamped 
paper but to await the coming of the new governor, 
Sir Henry Moore, whose arrival was daily expected. 
This did not satisfy the people, and on the evening of 
November fifth, an armed body of citizens assembled 
again on the Commons, resolved to storm the fort and 
take possession of the hated paper by force. Colden 
could get no promise of assistance from Captain Kennedy 
of the ship-of-war Coventry then lying in the harbor, and 
therefore gave the stamped paper into the possession 
of the mayor and corporation at the gate of the fort. 
The new custodians promised to be careful of the pack- 
ages intrusted to them and to be responsible in case of 




KfctA. 



99 



100 The World's Greatest Street 

their injury or destruction. The city authorities and 
the stamped paper were then escorted to the City Hall 
in Wall Street, where the paper was deposited; and then 
the Sons of Liberty dispersed quietly to their homes. 

For fear that the guns at the Battery might be taken 
by the Sons of Liberty and used against the fort, Colden, 
so it was believed, caused some of them to be spiked. 
A few nights later his efifigy, seated on a spiked cannon, 
was burned on the Commons. 

The new governor, Sir Henry Moore, arrived about 
the middle of November and evinced so favorable a 
disposition towards the colonists that the Sons of Liberty 
held a grand mass meeting on the Commons, where they 
erected a pyramid and kindled a number of bonfires 
in his honor. About the middle of December Captain 
Blow arrived from Canada with a stamped pass signed 
by the governor of Canada. The pass was the first piece 
of the stamped paper that had appeared in the city, and 
was posted conspicuously in Burns's Coffee House. In 
the evening a procession was formed, bearing a gallows 
upon which were three efBgies: that of Lord Grenville, 
the author of the act; that of Lord Colville, who had 
tried to enforce it by stopping colonial vessels, and that 
of General Murray, who had signed the first piece of the 
stamped paper which had found its way into the city. 
The line of march was through the principal streets of 
the town and ended at the Commons — now the rallying 
place of the people — where the effigies were burned. 

On May 20, 1766, news reached New York of the 
repeal of the act, and on the following day, the people 
gathered in the Fields to show their delight in every 
possible way. Still further to show their loyalty and 
gratitude to the king, they assembled again on his birth- 
day, June fourth, and celebrated the event with feasting 



The Commons, or Fields loi 

and drinking. A great pole with twelve tar barrels at 
its top was erected, and twenty-five cords of wood were 
placed at its base. Then, while a salute of twenty-five 
guns was fired in another part of the Fields, the great 
bonfire was kindled and the royal standard raised amid 
the cheers of the crowd. Still another pole was raised 
on this memorable day, bearing the inscription, "The 
King, Pitt, and Liberty" — the first liberty-pole, which 
was to serve as the rallying point of the citizens for several 
years, the visible sign of the principle of no taxation 
without representation. 

This liberty-pole stood not far from the barracks 
of the soldiers on the north side of Chambers Street. 
On the tenth of August, a party belonging to the 28th 
Regiment cut the pole down. The next day, while the 
citizens were assembled on the Commons preparing 
to erect another, they were attacked by the soldiers, 
and several of the Sons of Liberty, among whom were 
Isaac Sears and John Berrien, were severely hurt. Though 
complaints were made by the citizens, the British officers 
declared that the affidavits submitted were falsehoods 
and refused to reprimand or punish the offenders. 

A second liberty-pole was erected and the soldiers 
allowed it to stand for a few days and then cut it down, 
on September twenty-third. Within two days, a third 
pole was raised; and this time the pole was allowed to 
stand, as the soldiers were restrained by the orders of 
Governor Moore, who was believed to have been the 
instigator of the previous attacks. 

On the eighteenth of March, 1767, the citizens assem- 
bled on the Commons to celebrate the anniversary of the 
repeal of the Stamp Act. The celebration aroused the 
anger of the soldiers, and that night the pole was again 
levelled to the ground. The next day the Sons of 



102 The World's Greatest Street 

Liberty set up another and more substantial one, well 
secured with iron bands. An unsuccessful attempt was 
made to destroy it that night. The following night 
another attempt to blow it up (or down) with gun- 
powder was made, but this, also, was unsuccessful. 
Then the Sons of Liberty set a strong guard about the 
pole ; and for three successive nights attempts were made 
to destroy it, but the soldiers were beaten off. The 
peremptory orders of the governor compelled the soldiers 
to desist from their attacks, and the pole stood undis- 
turbed for three years. 

During these years, affairs were moving in the di- 
rection of armed resistance to the impositions of the 
British Parliament, and frequent were the meetings 
on the Commons and burnings in effigy of offensive 
individuals. At last, on January 13, 1770, attacks were 
renewed upon the liberty-pole by a party of the i6th 
Regiment, who attempted to blow it down with gun- 
powder. In this they were unsuccessful, and they then 
attacked a party of citizens in front of Montagnie's 
tavern in Broadway opposite the Fields — at that time 
the headquarters of the Sons of Liberty. The citizens 
were driven indoors and attempted to barricade them- 
selves from the unruly mob; but the soldiers broke in 
with drawn swords and wrecked the building and fur- 
niture. In the midst of the destruction, their officers 
came up and ordered them back to their barracks. On 
the two succeeding nights, the attacks were resumed 
against the pole without success; but the third night, 
the pole was levelled to the ground and sawed into 
pieces which were piled up in front of Montagnie's in 
derision of the patriotic club. 

This insult aroused the Sons of Liberty; and on the 
evening of the seventeenth, handbills were circulated 



The Commons, or Fields 103 

calling a meeting that night upon the Commons. Three 
thousand citizens assembled and passed strong resolu- 
tions in regard to the daily outrages committed by the 
soldiery and threatened to regard those found outside 
their barracks after roll-call as enemies of the city. 
The next day there began a two days' conflict with the 
soldiers in which several lives were lost. Since the 
various affrays occurred in the neighborhood of John 
and William streets — a locality known at that time as 
Golden Hill — the conflict has been termed the "Battle 
of Golden Hill." It occurred two months before the 
Boston Massacre, and it was here that the first blood 
of the coming conflict was shed. 

The Sons of Liberty requested permission to erect 
another liberty-pole, but the Common Council refused 
permission. While the council was considering the re- 
quest, Lamb and several others of the club purchased a 
plot of ground eleven feet wide and one hundred feet 
deep near the site of the former pole. Here, on February 
6, 1770, the last of the liberty-poles was raised. It was 
a mast of great length, sunk twelve feet into the ground, 
and encased for two thirds of its height with iron bands 
and hoops firmly riveted together. Amid the shouts 
of the people and the sound of music, it was stepped into 
its place. It bore the inscription, "Liberty and Prop- 
erty," and was surmounted by a gilt vane bearing the 
same inscription in large letters. This inscription was 
not of so loyal a tenor as that placed upon the first pole 
and shows how the feelings of the people were changing. 
The concluding paragraph of the handbill distributed 
by the Liberty Boys reads as follows: 

And now, Gentlemen, seeing we are debarred the privilege 
of Public Ground to erect the Pole on, we have purchased a 



104 The World's Greatest Street 

place for it near where the other stood, which is full as public as 
any of the Corporation Ground. Your Attendance and count- 
enance are desired at one o'clock on Tuesday morning, the 6th 
instant, at Mr. Crommelin's Wharf, in order to carry it up to 
be raised. 

By Order of the Committee. 
New York, February 3, 1770. 

The Liberty Boys had had quarters at Burns's and 
also at Montagnie's, both on Broadway; but the latter 
was now let to the opposite party for the anniversary 
celebration of the nineteenth of March. Not to be 
balked by the action of the recreant Montagnie, the 
club bought a house in the Spring Garden — corner of 
Ann Street and Broadway, where Barnum's Museum 
stood long afterward — and named it Hampden Hall in 
honor of the great English patriot. On the forty-fifth day 
of the year (February fourteenth) they marched to the 
New Jail, where McDougal, one of their leaders, was in 
prison, and in order to compliment him gave forty-five 
cheers, drank forty-five toasts, and ate forty-five beef- 
steaks. This number had for them a peculiar significance ; 
for it was on the forty-fifth page of the journal of the As- 
sembly that the proceedings against McDougal were 
entered. On the nineteenth of March they paid another 
visit to their leader at his place of temporary impris- 
onment. 

A party of British soldiers, who were on the point 
of leaving for Pensacola, vowed that they would take 
a piece of the pole with them as a trophy; and so, on 
the twenty-ninth of March, they made another attempt 
upon it. Their effort to unship the topmast was dis- 
covered and the alarm given. Upon the rallying of 
the Liberty Boys the soldiers retired to their barracks 
where they received reinforcements and forced the 



The Commons, or Fields 105 

patriots to retire to Hampden Hall, which the soldiers 
swore they would burn. The alarm bells were rung 
and the citizens flew to arms; while the British ojfficers, 
fearing a repetition of Golden Hill, drove their men back 
to the barracks. A strong guard was placed about 
the pole; and after the departure of the soldiers on the 
third of May, the pole remained unmolested until 1775. 

During the anniversary celebration of the Stamp 
Act repeal in that year, Sergeant William Cunningham 
and a companion made an assault upon the patriots 
gathered about the pole. They were driven off; and 
Cunningham, who had been a Liberty Boy himself 
before joining the army, was severely whipped. That 
whipping was dearly paid for in the lives of eleven thou- 
sand American prisoners who died during the British 
occupation of the city under the treatment of the venge- 
ful provost-marshal. Captain William Cunningham. 
One of the earliest of his acts after the occupation of 
the city by the British, in September, 1776, was to order 
the liberty-pole levelled to the ground. It probably 
seemed to him a visible reminder of the humiliation 
of the whipping he had received. In 1897, the Mary 
Washington Chapter, Daughters of the American Revo- 
lution, caused a tablet to be placed in the post-office 
to commemorate the erection and maintenance of the 
liberty -pole from 1766 to 1776. 

On the tenth of May, 1770, Nathan Rogers, a visiting 
Boston merchant, was hanged in effigy on the Commons 
for refusing to comply with the non-importation agree- 
ment. He then went to Philadelphia, where upon notice 
from the New York club, things were made uncomfortable 
for him by the patriots. 

In 1774, attempts to land tea were made at various 
ports of the colonies. New York was not left out of the 



io6 The World's Greatest Street 

list of towns to which the consignments were ordered; 
and on the eighteenth of April, the Nancy, Captain 
Lockyer, arrived off the city bringing a cargo of tea. 
The Vigilance Committee, which had intelligence of her 
coming, prevented any one from landing except her 
captain, and ordered the ship to leave the port. On the 
twenty-second, the London, Captain Chambers, arrived. 
Upon his assuring the Committee in the most solemn 
manner that he had no tea aboard, and as the ship's 
manifest showed none, he was permitted to bring his 
vessel up to the city. After many denials, Chambers 
admitted he had tea on board as a private venture of 
his own without the knowledge of the East India Com- 
pany. The citizens thronged to the wharf at which the 
London lay ; and upon receiving word that the Committee 
had declared the tea confiscated, they boarded the vessel 
in broad day and without disguise. They found eighteen 
chests which they broke open and dumped the contents 
into the river. Lockyer and Chambers were escorted 
to their ships and virtually driven from the city, the 
battery at the liberty-pole firing a salute in honor of 
their departure. 

On the sixth of July, 1774, there occurred what is 
called the "great meeting in the Fields," when an im- 
mense multitude gathered to denounce the Boston 
Port Bill, to open subscriptions for the suffering Bos- 
tonians, to renew the non-importation agreement, and 
to advocate the calling of a continental congress to 
discuss the affairs of the colonies. It is stated that the 
meeting was addressed by Alexander Hamilton, then 
seventeen years of age and a student at King's College. 
The report of the meeting has been fully told by those 
who took part in it and by the contemporaneous writers 
of the day, and no mention is made of this wonderful 



The Commons, or Fields 107 

performance of Hamilton. The only authority for the 
statement is that of his son, John C. Hamilton, in his 
biography of his distinguished father; and that Hamilton 
appeared on the Fields in any other character than that 
of a spectator is at least doubtful.* 

Early in April, 1775, the man-of-war Asia, 74 guns, 
arrived in the harbor. The troops in the neighborhood 
of New York were transferred to Boston, and there being 
an insufficiency of barracks there, requests were made to 
some of the Boston carpenters to construct the required 
buildings. No one could be found to do it in Boston, and 
an appeal was made to the British officers in New York. 
Notwithstanding the orders of the Sons of Liberty 
forbidding any New Yorker from complying with the 
request and declaring such a person a traitor to his 
country, a vessel was fitted out with the necessary supply 
of boards and straw. The news soon reached the Com- 
mittee of Safety, and a meeting was called upon the 
Commons, which decided to seize the vessel and prevent 
her departure. "King" Sears was the principal speaker, 
and he advised the people to arm and to provide them- 
selves with twenty-four rounds of ammunition — a recom- 
mendation that was at once adopted. Sears was arrested 
for this and carried before the mayor; but he refused 
to give bail, and, like McDougal, he was remanded to 
the New Jail. On his way to confinement he was rescued 
from the constables by the people, who bore him in 
triumph through the city. 

The news of the fight at Lexington and Concord 
reached the city on Sunday, April 24, 1775, and the 
usual Sabbath-day decorum of the streets of the town 
was disturbed by the excited groups which gathered 

* See foot-note by Henry B. Dawson in Scharf 's History of Westchester 
County, i., 201. 



io8 The World's Greatest Street 

everywhere to discuss the startUng news. Early in 
the spring General Charles Lee arrived with 1200 men 
to assume command of New York for the Americans. 
His troops were encamped on the Commons, while he 
took up his quarters at the Kennedy house at Number i , 
Broadway. This was a bold act on his part, as the 
Committee of Safety, fearing a bombardment of the city 
by the Asia, whose captain had threatened it in the event 
of American troops being brought into the city, protested 
strongly to Lee against his doing so. 

After the capture of Boston by Washington, March 
17, 1776, he repaired in person to New York which, it 
was thought, would be the next object of attack by the 
British. On July tenth, dispatches from Ph ladelphia 
announced the action of Congress of July fourth, and 
orders were at once issued for the different brigades 
of the army to assemble on the Commons at six o'clock 
on that evening. A hollow square was formed, with 
Washington and his staff on horseback in the centre, 
on the site of the present fountain in the City Hall Park, 
and there, amid close attention, the Declaration of 
Independence was read. At its conclusion, the great 
crowd, both soldiers and civilians, greeted the new-born 
nation with enthusiastic cheers. A bronze tablet on 
the City Hall commemorates the event. 




CHAPTER VI 

THE CITY HALL PARK 

OST of the small parks throughout 
the city began originally as potters' 
fields, where the paupers and un- 
known dead were buried. The 
northern part of the Fields was 
used in this way, and across where 
Chambers Street now is was the 
negro burying-ground of colonial 
times. The burials here were usually held at night, when 
the negro population got together and buried their dead 
with weird rites and incantations — relics, probably, of 
their African origin. Long after the burying-ground was 
disused and forgotten, it was recalled to the people of 
a later generation when, in digging a hole for a lamp- 
post at the corner of Reade Street, several human bones 
were exhumed. 

With the restoration of peace, in 1783, and the remark- 
able subsequent growth of the city, it was found that the 
City Hall in Wall Street was inadequate for the needs 
of the municipality; so it was determined at the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century to build a new one. 
In 1802, a premium was offered for the best plan for a 
new building, and the award was made to Macomb and 

109 



no The World's Greatest Street 

Maugin. The site selected was in the upper part of the 
Commons, formerly called the Fields, and known since 
1785, when it was enclosed, as the Park. And the Park 
it remained pre-eminently until long after Central Park 
came into existence and usurped its title. This first 
fence about the Park was made of posts and rails, which 
soon gave way to pickets. It was later decided to 
enclose the Park with an iron fence ; but as the American 
iron-workers were not able in those early days to make 
the required fence, it was ordered from England. The 
new fence arrived on the last day of the year 1821, and 
was put up during the following year. At the lower end 
of the Park, four marble posts were erected as gateways, 
and their tops were joined by iron scroll-work supporting 
lanterns. The whole Park could not have been so fenced 
in, as Philip Hone says in his diary under date of May 
15, 1834, that the unsightly wooden railings in the Park 
were removed and gave place to chestnut posts with iron 
chains, which would greatly improve the prospect from 
his house opposite at Park Place. In 1820, Alderman 
Swartwout proposed enlarging the Park by extending 
it to Ann, Beekman, and Nassau streets (its original 
area up to Dongan's time) so as to make it nearly square. 
On the eighth of May, 1827, four granite balls, taken, so 
it was said, from the ruins of ancient Troy, were pre- 
sented to the city by Captain John B. Nicholson and 
placed on the tops of the granite pillars. 

The corner-stone of the present City Hall was laid 
by Mayor Livingston on September 20, 1803; but the 
building was not used until July 4, 181 1, and not fully 
completed until 18 12. The building is of white marble 
brought from Stockbridge, Massachusetts, at prices which 
caused several of the contractors to fail, owing to the lack 
of cheap and convenient means of transportation. This 




Ill 



112 The World's Greatest Street 

delayed the completion of the structure. The original 
plans called for a marble building; but the matter was 
put into the hands of an aldermanic committee who 
declared for freestone on account of the expense, and 
also decided to cut down the size of the edifice. Upon 
the solicitations of the architects, the building was 
restored to its first size; and after the foundations had 
been carried above the ground, the committee consented 
to the marble on all but the north side, which was built 
of brownstone as a matter of economy. The architects 
showed that this construction of marble would cost 
the city but $43,750 more than for brownstone. The 
building was erected by day's work, the pay of the best 
skilled mechanics ranging from one dollar to one and 
a quarter a day. In 1890, the brownstone was painted 
white to resemble the rest of the building, and to-day 
it is impossible to tell without the closest scrutiny whether 
it is marble or not. The structure cost about half a 
million of dollars, and is a contrast in the matter of cost 
with its near neighbor, the County Court-house, which 
cost over fourteen millions. 

There is a story worth telling in connection with the 
construction of the City Hall simply to show the differ- 
ence between those days and these. The builder was 
obliged to draw the marble used in the building from the 
sloops which brought it down the North River. He 
found the charge excessive, and therefore bought a mule 
to do the hauling, for which he charged the city "to one 
mule $22." After the work was done, he found the 
mule more valuable than when he bought, so he credited 
the city "by one mule $24." Can we of a century 
later imagine any one doing such a thing now? Such 
an act would be sufficient without further evidence to 
convince any sheriff's jury or surrogate of the man's 




- — — - ^ 




^Mm^y^^r^^B 




114 The World's Greatest Street 

insanity. More 's the pity that we have so degenerated 
that the very fact that a man is doing something for the 
government, whether national, state, or city, is so often 
a warrant for dishonesty; and this, too, with men who 
in their business and social life are thoroughly con- 
scientious. 

The City Hall is too well known to require description 
here. It was a beautiful, symmetrical, stately building 
when first erected — it remains so to-day, though some- 
what dwarfed by the sky-scraping structures on Chambers 
and other streets in its rear. Long may it stand with 
its historical associations to mark the progress of the 
city. Since the formation of the greater city, it has 
become entirely too small for the accommodation of 
the offices of the different departments of the municipal 
government, and it is now given over to the mayor, the 
Board of Aldermen, and the City Library. A new 
municipal building is in course of erection at this writing 
(191 1) northeast of the Park on Centre Street, which, 
it is expected, will house the city departments and save 
the municipality many millions of dollars that it now 
pays for rent. 

The "Governors' Room" in the City Hall is well 
worth a visit. It contains the portraits of nearly all 
the governors of the State from George Clinton down to 
the present, the portraits of many of the mayors of the 
city, and many articles of furniture and other relics 
connected with the first Federal Congress, the opening of 
the Erie Canal, and with prominent events in the history 
of the city and with prominent statesmen and citizens 
of the olden times. Upon his visit to the city in 1824, 
Lafayette was received with distinguished honors, and 
during his sojourn in New York held daily receptions 
in the City Hall, where thousands of citizens waited 



The City Hall Park 115 

upon him. Other distinguished foreigners are received 
by the mayor in the building. 

The City Hall has borne its part in all the great 
celebrations of the past — the opening of the Erie Canal, 
the admission of Croton water, the laying of the Atlantic 
cable, the centenary of Washington's inauguration, the 
Hudson-Fulton celebration of 1909, and many others. 
Our population is of such a cosmopolitan character, 
with so many nationalities represented, that it was 
formerly the custom to display the flags of the different 
peoples from the City Hall upon their national holidays 
or fete days. This custom offended many of the Amer- 
icans of the city, and it was stopped by enactment of 
the State legislature, February 22, 1895, which decreed 
that no flags should be flown from public buildings 
throughout the State, except those of the nation, the 
state, or the municipality. The four-faced clock in 
the tower was for over half a century after its installation 
the standard by which everybody set his timepiece; 
and "City Hall time," or "City time," became the 
criterion by which the accuracy of a timepiece was 
judged, or the moment of any event determined. 

Among those tendered receptions at the City Hall 
besides Lafayette, were Clay, Webster, and Lord Ash- 
burton, the British Minister who made the Treaty of 
Washington with Webster, and who surrendered so many 
disputed points to the able American statesman that 
the treaty was called by the English when they learned 
its provisions, the "Ashburton capitulation." Other 
men whom the city has delighted to honor in the same 
way were the naval heroes of the War of 1812 — Hull, 
Perry, Jones, Lawrence, and Decatur, who were presented 
with the freedom of the city in a gold box and whose 
portraits were painted at the expense of the city and 



Ii6 The World's Greatest Street 

hung in the City Hall. Another recipient of similar 
honors was General Winfield Scott, the hero of the 
Mexican War and the War of 1812. 

The most imposing celebration ever held in the City 
Hall or in the Park was that in jubilation over the ad- 
mission of Croton water, when the building was beauti- 
fully illuminated in a manner, so it is said, that has never 
been surpassed even to the present. Another gala 
occasion was the reception and celebration in honor of 
Cyrus W. Field upon his second attempt to lay the At- 
lantic cable in 1858, which was partially successful, 
messages being exchanged between this country and 
England before the cable broke. During the illumina- 
tion of the City Hall upon that occasion, the cupola 
caught fire and was badly damaged, as well as the top 
story of the building. For many months afterward, 
the City Hall presented an inelegant and careless appear- 
ance with its front boarded up, as repairs were not 
started until some time after the fire. 

On the twentieth of November, 1804, eleven gentle- 
men met in the "picture room" of the City Hall and 
formed the New York Historical Society, electing De 
Witt Clinton as its first president; but it was not until 
the celebration of the bi-centenary of the discovery of 
the Hudson in 1809 that the influence of the society 
was felt. Since that time it has grown apace, and has 
done inestimable service in collecting and preserving 
all kinds of material connected with the nation, the state, 
and the city. 

At one time, it was customary for the Common Coun- 
cil to be served after its meetings with tea at the public 
expense. These tea parties were pleasant and sociable; 
but in the course of time, they grew beyond simple tea 
parties, and the aldermen were served with the best 



The City Hall Park 117 

that the city markets afforded in the way of fruit, fish, 
and game. Friends of the aldermen, supporters, con- 
tractors, and lobbyists began to drop in, and the liquid 
refreshments were poiired from less innocent vessels 
than tea-pots. In fact, the tea parties degenerated into 
orgies, held once a week at the public expense, and 
aroused so much adverse criticism on the part of the 
respectable portion of the community, that Mayor 
Harper put a stop to them in 1839. They were resumed 
in 1852, when the character of the city government had 
deteriorated very much from that of a quarter of a cen- 
tury before. 

In those earlier days, the Glorious Fourth was always 
celebrated with much enthusiasm throughout the city, 
and the Park was the scene of great gaiety. Booths were 
erected inside the railings, and here were sold roast pig 
(rather heavy diet for July fourth), egg-nog, cider, spruce 
beer, and other delectable dishes and beverages. The 
country people flocked to the city to enjoy the parade 
of the militia and the fireworks and delights of the Park, 
while the city boys flocked to the country to enjoy the 
green apples and have a good time generally. In 1840, 
it was proposed to abolish the booths, but they lasted 
for some years longer. Their cessation elicited the 
general remark, says Charles H. Haswell, "The Fourth 
of July passed away when the booths around City Hall 
Park were taken away." 

The bodies of several persons for whom the city 
mourned and whom it wished to honor have lain in 
state in the City Hall. Among these were President 
Lincoln in April, 1865, and General Grant in August, 
1885, and thousands of their sorrowing countrymen 
looked upon their dead faces. The body of John Howard 
Payne, the author of Home, Sweet Home, was brought 



ii8 The World's Greatest Street 

back from Tunis, Africa, in 1883 and lay in state at the 
City Hall. It was eminently fitting that the author 
of the sweetest song in the English language should rest 
in his own beloved country. Another whose memory 
the city thus honored was General Worth, a son of the 
state and a distinguished soldier. 

Sunk in the pavement in front of the main entrance 
of the City Hall is a tablet inscribed with the fact that, 
"At this place, 24th March, 1900, Hon. Robert A. Van 
Wyck made the first excavation for the Underground 
Railway. " The subway station is only a few yards away. 

During the Civil War, the lower end of the Park, 
where the post-office now stands, was occupied by 
temporary barracks used for the accommodation of the 
Federal soldiers that were stationed in the city. The 
adjoining fountain was made use of by the soldiers for 
performing their ablutions. 

The imposing, but ugly, building now occupying the 
southern end of the Park triangle is the New York post- 
office. The ground was acquired from the city, and the 
building was first occupied by the Federal Government 
on September i, 1875. Its cost was between $6,000,000 
and $7,000,000. It contains not only the post-office 
proper, but also the United States courts of this district 
and the rooms of many Federal officials. So rapid has 
been the growth of the city that the building is entirely 
inadequate for the demands made upon it, and a new 
post-office is now (191 1) in course of construction on 
the plot of ground above the tunnels of the Pennsyl- 
vania railroad, between Eighth and Ninth avenues and 
Thirty-first and Thirty-second streets. 

Just north of the post-office, facing Broadway, is a 
statue bearing the following inscription: "Nathan Hale, 
a captain in the Regular Army of the United States, 



The City Hall Park 119 

who gave his life for his country in the City of New 
York, September 26, 1776. 'My only regret is that I 
have but one life to give for my country,' " The statue 
is the work of the sculptor, Frederick Macmonnies, and 
it was erected by the Society of the Sons of the Revolu- 
tion and unveiled on November 25, 1893, the anniversary 
of the evacuation of the city by the British. 

No picture of Hale exists, but the sculptor has followed 
the description of Hale's physical appearance as given 
by Captain Hull and other friends of the martyred spy. 
The sculptor has succeeded in a remarkable degree in 
depicting the character of Hale and of portraying his 
honesty, candor, and disinterestedness as his friends 
knew him, showing that he had fully entered into Hale's 
life and being. A few years ago, I was showing the statue 
to an English friend and telling him Hale's story. After 
a long look at the bronze face, the Englishman said: 
"If that is a correct picture of Hale, surely no man was 
less fitted to be a spy than he." Many people have an 
idea that Hale was hanged within the Park and that he 
had been imprisoned within the "Provost," but this is 
erroneous. The spot of his execution is unknown ; but 
from the best evidence available, he was hanged in 
front of the British artillery camp near the Beekman 
mansion at Turtle Bay on the East River, near First 
Avenue and Fifty-first Street.* 

Nathan Hale was born in Coventr\% Connecticut, 
in 1755. He was graduated from Yale College in 1773 
and afterwards taught school at East Haddam and in 
New London in his native State. Upon the outbreak 
of the Revolution, he was engaged on recruiting duty 
for some time and then accompanied Colonel Webb's 

* See monograph on Nathan Hale by Professor Johnson of the City- 
College from which are taken most of my statements concerning Hale. 



120 



The World's Greatest Street 



regiment to the fortifications about Boston, holding 
the position of captain. Upon the reorganization of 
the Continental army, he became a captain in the 19th 
Regiment of Foot, Colonel Webb commanding. His 
regiment formed part of Heath's brigade, which was dis- 



patched to New 
after the evacu- 
Sir William 
battle of Long 
rangers was 
command of 
Knowlton of 
be the eyes and 
and Hale was 
to be one of his 
Washington 
what f ortifica- 
byHowe and 
had made of the 
called upon 
a spy, 
Hale 
teered. 
guised 
Dutch 
master, 
went to 



^^^^ ■j'-j-aC/ 





■••f— ,^ 



THE NATHAN HALE STATUE IN CITY HALL PARK 



York immediately 
ation of Boston by 
Howe. After the 
Island, a battalion of 
formed under the 
Lieutenant- Colonel 
Hale's regiment, "to 
ears of the army," 
selected by Knowlton 
captains. 

was anxious to know 
tions had been erected 
what dispositions he 
British troops. He 
Knowlton to furnish 
and 
V o 1 u n- 
D i s - 
as a 
school- 
H a 1 e 
N o r - 



walk in Connecticut and crossed the Sound to Long 
Island. This was the last seen of him by any of his 
friends. 

On the afternoon of Sunday, September 26, 1776, 
Captain Montressor of Howe's staff, chief engineer of 
the British army, visited the American lines under a 
flag of truce. He was met by General Putnam, Adjutant- 



The City Hall Park 121 

General Reed, Alexander Hamilton, William Hull, and 
others. In the course of conversation, Montressor 
stated that a captain of rangers had been hanged that 
morning as a spy. Hull, who was a classmate and 
intimate friend of Hale, at once asked the name of the 
captain; whereupon Montressor related the incidents 
of the execution. Hale had been caught red-handed, 
the incriminating papers had been found on him, and 
he had at once admitted his mission. On the way to 
the execution by the Provost-Marshal Cunningham, 
Montressor, moved by pity at the sight of the handsome, 
ingenuous youth, invited Hale within his tent while 
preparations were making for the execution, Mon- 
tressor engaged Hale in conversation, learned his name 
and rank, and expressed the opinion that Hale must 
regret having undertaken a mission so foreign to his 
rank and character and ending in an ignominious death; 
whereupon Hale gave his immortal reply. This, briefly, 
is the story of Nathan Hale as we know it from the ac- 
count given by William Hull. Many legends have grown 
up in the course of time, but, as they lack confirmation, 
they must be considered as surmises and probabilities 
not capable of proof.* 

On the eighteenth of June, 18 12, Congress declared 
war against Great Britain, word of which reached New 
York two days later. On the twenty-fourth, in com- 
pliance with the call of the Common Council, a great 
number of the citizens met at noon in the Park, facing 
the City Hall. Colonel Henry Rutgers was chairman, 
and Colonel Marinus Willet, secretary of the meeting. 
Notwithstanding the divergence of opinions in regard 
to the expediency of the war a set of strong and patriotic 

* For a more detailed account of the execution, see the author's novel, 
A Princess and Another. 



122 The World's Greatest Street 

resolutions was unanimously adopted, approving the 
action of the Government and pledging to its support 
"their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors." 
Within four months thereafter, the individual enterprise 
of the citizens had fitted out and sent to sea twenty-six 
privateers, carrying two hundred and twelve guns and 
over twenty-two thousand men. 

But the war went steadily against the United States, 
and at last all the vessels of our little navy were either 
captured or blockaded in our ports. The British ad- 
mirals, admitting that their imperative orders were 
"to destroy and lay waste all towns and districts of the 
United States accessive to the attack of British arma- 
ments, " had captured and devastated Eastport, Machias, 
Castine, and Belfast in Maine, had bombarded Stonington 
in Connecticut, and had worked havoc along the shores 
of the Chesapeake. British vessels of war had approached 
through the Sound as far as Throgg's Neck, now within 
the city of New York in the Borough of The Bronx. 
The coast was blockaded from Georgia to Maine, and 
the work of the British fleets had ceased to be war and 
had become devastation. 

Alarmed at these reports from all sections of the 
coast and realizing the unpreparedness of New York 
to withstand an anticipated attack, the Common Council 
called a meeting in the Park, August ii, 1814, to take 
measures for the protection of the city. Colonel Rutgers 
was chairman as before; and while the committee was 
drawing up a set of resolutions the old veteran of the 
Revolution, Marinus Willett, aroused the enthusiasm 
of the assemblage by tales of the first great struggle 
with Great Britain, and urged them to support their 
leaders to the end. A set of resolutions was unanimously 
carried, declaring their resolve to unite in arms on the 



The City Hall Park 



123 



approach of the enemy and to defend the city to the last 
extremity, and urging all citizens to enroll in the militia 
or naval service, to assist in the public works, and by 
every means in their power to aid the authorities in 
their efforts to secure the public safety. 

There is no doubt that the inhabitants of New York 
were thoroughly scared ; for so numerous were the volun- 




CITY HALL 



teers to work on the fortifications — merchants, masons, 
carpenters, shoemakers, artisans of all trades, and in- 
corporated societies — that the authorities had to beg 
some of them to wait from day to day for want of room 
to place them. The whole cit}^ wore a martial aspect, 
drilling was going on everywhere, and citizens of all 
classes and ranks could be seen hurrying through the 
streets with pick or shovel to help construct the public 
works of defence. Many of these works in the harbor 



124 The World's Greatest Street 

have been enlarged and modernized and constitute the 
defences of the New York of to-day. Of those at the 
upper end of the city — at McGowan's Pass and across 
the island at various points — two of the block-houses and 
traces of the fortifications remain — -all now guarded and 
protected from injury by our local patriotic societies. 
Happily, there was no need for all this preparation, for 
the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent on the twenty- 
fourth of December of the same year, and the war was 
over. 

Lotteries were recognized means of obtaining money 
for public purposes during the first half of the nineteenth 
century; they were held in front of the City Hall in the 
presence of an alderman. Meetings of all kinds were 
held by the citizens in the Park; as, for example, in 
1 82 1, when the clergymen of the city called a meeting 
to express disapprobation of Sunday steamboat excur- 
sions, which were becoming very popular. Fully five 
thousand persons were present, who took the conduct 
of affairs out of the hands of the clergymen and expressed 
by vote their disapproval of the interference of the 
clergy. Many abolition meetings also were held here; 
and on August 27, 1835, a small but select meeting was 
held which expressed itself as opposed to the action 
of the Abolitionists. 

In 1837, there occurred the first great business panic 
with which the nation has been visited, and New York 
was as hard hit as the rest of the country. Unfortunately, 
no practical measures were at first instituted to relieve 
the distresses of the working classes, and advantage 
was taken of the opportunity by politicians and dema- 
gogues to inflame the passions of the ignorant and the 
vicious. On the tenth of February, there appeared the 
following notice: 



The City Hall Park 125 

BREAD, MEAT, RENT, FUEL!! 

THEIR PRICES MUST COME DOWN ! 

The voice of the People will he heard, and must prevail. 
The People will meet in the Park, raifi or shine, at 
4 o'clock Monday afternoon, 
To inquire into the cause of the present unexampled distress 
and to devise a suitable remedy. All friends of humanity, 
determined to resist monopolists and extortionists, are 
invited to attend. 

Moses Jacques Daniel Gorham 

Paulus Heddle John Windy 

Daniel A. Robinson Alexander Ming, Jr. 

Warden Hayward Elijah F. Crane. 

New York, Feb. 10, 1837. 

Pursuant to the call, fully six thousand persons 
assembled in front of the City Hall, and Moses Jacques 
was chosen cha'rman. There was no lack of speakers; 
and the multitude was divided up into groups listening 
to the different orators, the burden of each one's speech 
consisting chiefly of denunciation of the rich, of land- 
lords, and of the dealers in provisions, especially of flour. 
The chief offender in the eyes of the mob was the firm 
of Eli Hart & Co. ; and one of the speakers, having aroused 
his hearers to the highest pitch, exclaimed: 

"Fellow-citizens, Eli Hart & Company have now fifty- 
three thousand barrels of flour in their store; let us go 
and offer them eight dollars a barrel for it, and if they 
do not accept it " 

Here he was interrupted, as Patrick Henry had been 
in a much more famous speech, and concluded by saying 
in a significant tone, "If they will not accept it — we will 
depart in peace." 

The hint was sufficient, and the great crowd rushed 



126 The World's Greatest Street 

down Broadway to Dey Street, increasing in numbers 
and excitement until they reached Washington Street, 
when they became a roaring mob. Hart's store was 
attacked and the barrels of flour were rolled into the 
street and broken open, until some police arrived on the 
scene, when there was a momentary lull in the operations. 
The police were soon mastered by the frenzied mob, 
and the work of destruction went on until the appear- 
ance of the militia, who had been hurriedly summoned 
by the mayor, at sight of whom the mob dispersed. 
An army of women and boys appeared during the height 
of the destruction and gathered up the spilled flour in 
pails, bags, and other vessels. Several other flour stores 
in the vicinity were attacked during the excitement, 
and one thousand bushels of wheat and six hundred 
barrels of flour were emptied into the street. The usual 
result followed — flour became dearer than before, and the 
ringleaders of the mob, the politicians and demagogues 
who had incited them to riot, went unpunished, though 
some of their dupes went to prison. 

In 1857, during the panic and distress of that year, 
crowds of the unemployed flocked into the Park and 
threatened the authorities unless they were given food 
and work. Their riotous action was repressed by giving 
them work in Central Park, recently purchased and then 
in course of development. The charitable societies 
and people of the city established soup kitchens for the 
needy and starving thousands, so that danger of an 
uprising was averted. 

In the year 1863, it was necessary for the Federal 
Government to institute a draft to supply the depleted 
armies of the nation, then engaged in a life and death 
struggle for the preservation of the Union. The draft 
went into effect in New York on July eleventh, and 



^^m 



■■:: '■'"-^■-•V: 





■^K' 311* 




128 The World's Greatest Street 

was followed by riots in several parts of the city. One 
of the objects of attack by the rioters was the building 
of the New York Tribune on Park Row. On the thir- 
teenth, Governor Horatio Seymour arrived in the city 
and went to the City Hall. A great crowd of rioters 
who had resumed their attack on the Tribune building 
heard of his presence and flocked into the Park and were 
addressed by the governor. He was overcome by the 
sight of the riotous mob, and either lost his head or 
purposely attempted to conciliate them by making them 
believe he was friendly to them and their actions. He 
even went so far as to call them "My friends." The 
mob cheered him to the echo, and thus encouraged, 
dispersed to resume their work of murder and destruction. 
There were two points in Broadway at which danger 
was expected from the rioters; these were No. 1190, 
where the provost-marshal had established one of the 
wheels for drawing names, the other was at Broadway 
and Twenty-second Street, where was the office of U. S. 
Collector of Internal Revenue, George P. Putnam. The 
drawing lasted during the forenoon of July eleventh at 
1 1 90, but was stopped by the marshal at that time, as 
the riot had begun. Neither place was attacked, though 
the guardians of both were on watch incessantly for 
several days. In Broadway, itself, a mob was attacked 
and scattered in the neighborhood of Bleecker Street 
by the police held in reserve at police headquarters in 
Mulberry Street, the rioters being at the time on their 
way to attack that building. The fortunate arrival 
of the Seventh Regiment and the active efforts of the 
few officers and troops in the city put down the riot on 
the fourth day. The dearth of troops was due to 
the fact that they had been drawn upon to sustain 
Meade in his efforts to turn the tide of Confederate 



The City Hall Park 129 

invasion in Pennsylvania, culminating in the victory at 
Gettysburg. 

In 1 86 1, the legislature authorized the erection of a 
new county court-house at an expenditure of not more 
than $250,000. The site selected was that formerly 
occupied by the ancient almshouse in rear of the City 
Hall. The building was first used in 1867, but was not 
completed for many years afterwards. Its construction 
was the most gigantic steal of the many with which New 
York has been inflicted by its political "bosses," and 
occurred during the days of the "Tweed Ring." When 
the building was finally completed, it had cost the city 
over $14,000,000, most of which was without authority 
of law, and over half of which found its way into the 
pockets of the Ring. 

East of the court-house and fronting on Chambers 
Street there formerly stood a circular building called the 
Rotunda. The ground was secured from the city in 
1816 on a ten years' lease by John Vanderlyn the artist, 
a protege and friend of Aaron Burr; and the building 
was erected the following year. It was used for pano- 
ramic displays of the battle of Waterloo, the Palace and 
Garden of Versailles, and of other places and events, 
as well as serving as an art gallery. In 1832, there were 
exhibited pictures of Adam and Eve, who were shown 
in a semi-nude condition. This shocked a large portion 
of the community, who had not yet been educated up 
(or down) to such impropriety, and the exhibition was 
much censured. Of course, everybody went to see for 
himself, there were the same old arguments for the nude 
in art that we hear even to-day — and the exhibition was 
a financial success. The building was used for a time 
in 1849 as the city post-office during the cholera epidemic 
of that year; later it was used for municipal purposes. 



I30 



The World^s Greatest Street 



It gave way in 1852 to the ugly, square brown-stone 
building now occupying the site which is used for the 
City Court, and which was formerly occupied by the 
criminal courts until the construction of the new Criminal 
Court building on Centre Street in 1894. 

In 1903, it became apparent that the present county 
court-house would not long answer the demands made 
upon it, and a committee was appointed to select a new site. 



^0 




THE NORTH END OF CITY HALL PARK SHOWING SCUDDEr's MUSEUM, I825 

After many sites had been considered, it was determined 
in February, 1910, that the most available was that at 
the north end of the Park, extending from Broadway 
to Park Row ; and the mayor and governor both approved 
the bill to place the court-house there. The plans call 
for a ten- story structure, equipped with modem sanitary 
and ventilating systems, in which the present building 
is sadly lacking, and incorporating the present edifice. 
The chief point to recommend this site is that the city 
owns the land. The lovers of the City Beautiful at 



The City Hall Park 131 

once attacked the plan, and maintained that it would 
be cheaper for the city in the end to spend several millions 
for a new site, rather than still further to encroach upon 
the limits of the Park. No decision as to site having 
been arrived at, Senator Still well introduced a bill in 
the Legislature of 191 1 making it mandatory upon the 
authorities to use the Park site and to appropriate the 
necessary money for the construction of the court-house 
within four months after the passage of the bill. Not- 
withstanding the almost unanimous opposition of the 
newspapers and the civic societies, the iniquitous measure 
was railroaded through the Legislature and sent to the 
Alayor for his consideration. Mayor Gaynor gave a 
public hearing and promptly vetoed the bill and returned 
it to Albany in July; but the bill was at once re-intro- 
duced, with some changes to meet the Mayor's objections. 
The matter was still pending when this volume went to 
press. The committee of judges has been in existence 
eight years and has succeeded in not selecting a site — 
another example of the law's delay. 



CHAPTER VII 



FROM THE PARK TO CANAL STREET 




T Park Row the ancient highway 
turned off to the eastward until it 
joined the Bowery Lane at Chat- 
• ham Square and became merged in 
the latter as the "Great Highway 
to Boston. " The first thoroughfare 
to extend the length of the island 
to Kingsbridge was the Boston 
Road, which followed the Bowery and Fourth Avenue 
to the present Union Square, merging itself there in 
the Bloomingdale Road as far as Twenty-third Street, 
where it branched off to the eastward and followed an 
irregular course up the east side of the island, crossing 
the northeast corner of Central Park at McGowan's 
Pass and following the Harlem Lane (St. Nicholas 
Avenue) until it reached the Kingsbridge Road, which 
it followed to Spuyten Duyvel Creek. These streets 
and directions are, of course, only approximate; for 
many changes have been made in the direction and 
nomenclature of the highways of the city during the course 
of its development. Part of this road was the road to 
Harlem, which place had been first settled about 1658 at 
the suggestion of Petrus Stuyvesant, who offered to give 
the settlers a ferry to Long Island and a court and clergy- 

132 



From the Park to Canal Street 133 

man of their own as soon as they numbered twenty-five 
families. For many years the road to Harlem led through 
the woods and was in such poor condition that it was at 
times impassable. A new road was laid out in 1671, lead- 
ing to the vicinity of Third Avenue and One Hundred and 
Thirtieth Street. 

Though, as already stated, Broadway in English days 
did not, as a highway, extend beyond Chambers Street, 
there was a wagon road as far as the present Canal Street 
and beyond, for the British had fortifications there during 
the Revolution, and there is mention of a "middle" road 
between the Boston Road and the road to Greenwich along 
the shore of the Hudson. Evidence of this road is also 
shown when the Americans were retreating from the city 
to the upper part of the island in September, 1776. Put- 
nam was in the city, and the British were prepared to 
throw a line across the island from Kip's Bay to the Hud- 
son, when, for some reason — tradition says at Mrs. Mur- 
ray's home "Inclenberg" — they stopped near the East 
River shore. Aaron Burr knew the island thoroughly, and 
he was the aid who extricated Putnam from his dilemma. 
He guided the American troops over a new road which 
had been cut through the hills as an extension of Great 
George Street. Though it was so hot a day that several 
soldiers succumbed to the heat, Putnam and Burr rode 
from end to end of the column, encouraging the soldiers 
and the women and children who accompanied them, and 
hurrying them on, so that Putnam was able to report to 
the Chief without any loss of men or baggage to speak of. 
But the road did not become a legally recognized high- 
way until much later. 

In 1683, the city was divided into wards by Governor 
Dongan. The West Ward took in both sides of Broadway, 
its eastern boundary being New Street, and its western one 



134 The World's Greatest Street 

the Hudson; it extended from Battery Place on the south 
to Wall Street on the north. The Out Ward was "To 
contain the town of Harlem, with all the farms and settle- 
ments on this island, from north of the Fresh Water." 

The development of Broadway was in sections : first, 
from Vesey Street to Duane; second, from Duane Street 
to Canal; third, from Canal Street to Astor Place; last, 
from Astor Place to Union Square. 

The first section was surveyed in 1760 by Mr. Mar- 
schalk, a city surveyor, who presented to the corporation 
the plan of a road from the Spring Garden House, "where 
the road is eighty- two feet six inches wide, to the grounds 
of the Widow Rutgers, where the street is to be fifty feet 
wide " — this is the Great George Street already mentioned. 
The Rutgers property was in the vicinity of Thomas Street 
where the New York Hospital stood at a later date. The 
east side of this section was taken up principally by the 
Commons. "In 1790, the first sidewalks of the city were 
laid on the west side of Broadway from Vesey to Murray 
Street, and opposite for the same distance along the Bride- 
well fence. These were narrow pavements of brick and 
stone, scarcely wide enough for two people to walk a- 
breast" (Booth.) Broadway was a succession of hills 
above this point, being highest at Anthony Street, where 
there was a steep hill over which the road climbed, dropping 
down on the other side as abruptly to the stream at Canal 
Street. In 1792, John Jay gave the Common Council free 
right to regulate streets through his land on Great George 
Street. Five years later, the grade of Broadway was 
established between Duane and Canal Streets, though it 
was some years before work was begun. The period of 
the development of this section was to about 1830. 

In 1833, the first block, or Belgian, pavement was sub- 
stituted for the old cobble-stones ; the first experiment was 



From the Park to Canal Street 135 

tried on the Bowery. In Broadway, Reuss blocks were 
tried, but they proved a failure, and the Belgian replaced 
them. In 1835, in front of Philip Hone's house, the Street 
Department tried a new experiment, between Chambers 
and Warren streets, in making a roadbed of two layers 
of stone, the lower of large pieces and the upper of crushed 
stone ; then hemlock blocks were laid on top and the cracks 
were filled with tar. Vehicles ran so smoothly over the 
new pavement that the public was delighted, and one 
stage owner said he would willingly pay one hundred 
dollars a year for each of his stages if the whole street were 
to be so paved. Within a year, however, the street was 
in a wretched condition, and the stages were even en- 
croaching on the sidewalks. The wooden blocks were 
too soft to stand the heavy traffic at this point, and the 
pavement became full of holes, which were repaired with 
the old cobbles and cement. It was not until about 1852 
that the old pavement of pebbles was removed entirely 
from Broadway, and the Reuss blocks were substituted. 
These, in time, became so smooth and slippery that 
the much narrower granite, Belgian, blocks took their 
place. Much later, asphalt was used, but proved too 
soft, and a return was made to the Belgian, with which 
the street is at present paved from the post-office to Canal 
Street ; below, to the Bowling Green, the roadway is paved 
with an improved kind of wooden block which seems to 
be standing well and which greatly decreases the noise of 
heavy trucking. 

On the west side of Broadway, extending down to the 
shore of the Hudson, and lying about between Fulton and 
Duane streets, was the farm of the West India Company. 
It became the Duke's farm in 1664, when the Duke of York 
became the lord-proprietor, and the King's farm in 1685, 
when he became king of England. In 1702, it became the 



136 The World's Greatest Street 

Queen's farm, upon the succession to the throne of Queen 
Anne, who held possession of it until 1 705, when she granted 
it to Trinity Church. Trinity built St. Paul's upon the 
portion lying between Fulton and Vesey streets, and di- 
vided up the remainder into lots which were let on long 
leases. The upper portion of the farm included what 
had formerly been Roelof Jansen's land, and which passed 
at his death into the ownership of his widow, Annetje Jans, 
who subsequently married Dominie Everardus Bogardus, 
so that the farm became known as the "Dominie's 
bouwerie." It was sold by the heirs of Annetje Jans to 
Governor Francis Lovelace in March, 1670-71, and was 
confiscated by the Duke of York, because Lovelace was as 
deeply in debt to him as to every one else. In the transfer 
to Lovelace, one of the heirs, a daughter of Annetje, failed 
to give her consent, either directly or by attorney ; and 
this fact has been the basis for all the claims of Annetje 's 
descendants from that day to this — the suits being decided 
against the claimants by the courts. This upper part of 
the Church farm extended as far as the neighborhood of 
Canal Street and the Hudson, one corner of it only touch- 
ing Broadway at the southeast corner of Chambers Street, 
at the northern boundary of the Queen's farm proper. All 
of this property was included in the "Out Ward" of the 
city according to the division of 1683. 

The corporation of Trinity began to lay out the south 
part of the farm in lots in 1 720, at which time Great George 
Street did not extend beyond Ann Street, or the Eastern 
Highway. On the line of Broadway, abreast of the Fields, 
was the rope-walk of Dugdale & Searle, who maintained 
the place for over twenty years. The west side of the 
street was lined with a row of fine trees. The streets 
laid out through the farm were Fair (afterwards, Division, 
now, Fulton); Vesey, named in honor of the first rector; 



From the Park to Canal Street 137 

Barclay, after the second; Murray and Chambers, after 
distinguished members of the Church corporation; and 
Warren, after Admiral Sir Peter Warren, founder of Green- 
wich Village. Between Barclay and Murray, was Robin- 
son Street, later called Park Place, which only extended 
to the grounds of King's College at first, but which was 
opened through the grounds of Columbia College to 
College Place, October 27, 1854. 

On the site now occupied by the Astor House, there 
stood in the earlier part of the eighteenth century the 
Drovers' Inn, which was the resort of the sporting gentry 
of the period. There was a race course laid out on the 
Church farm adjoining, a fee of sixpence being charged for 
spectators. Later, the sports were transferred to the 
Bull's Head in the Bowery, on the subsequent site of the 
old Bowery Theatre. About the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century, when fashion began to creep abreast of 
the Park, there were several of the leading stores of the 
city, such as "Old Paff's" bric-a-brac shop. Wells & 
Patterson's for the exclusive sale of men's furnishings 
(the first of its kind in the city), Jotham Smith's dry- 
goods store, and Cotte's confectionery shop. These gave 
way in a few years to residences of wealthy merchants — 
on the Astor House block, among others, John Jacob Astor, 
John G. Coster, and Philip Lydig. Mayor Philip Hone's 
house at Number 235 was above at Park Place. He sold 
it on March 8, 1836, for |6o,ooo, and the lower part was 
converted into shops, while the upper part became the 
American Hotel. The last transfer of this property was 
in March, 19 10, when it and the adjoining property on 
Park Place were sold for prices which would have seemed 
fabulous in Hone's day and beyond the dreams of the most 
imaginative. The last purchasers of the property have 
already filed plans and begun work upon the erection of a 



138 



The World's Greatest Street 



forty-five story building, which will be the third loftiest 
building in the world and the second in America, being 
surpassed only by the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Metro- 
politan Life building in New York. It is to be known as 




THE ASTOR HOUSE, BETWEEN VESEY AND BARCLAY STREETS 



the Woolworth building from the president of the company 
erecting it, and will cost over $5,000,000. 

In 1830, John Jacob Astor determined to build a hotel 
which should be the finest in the country. He bought 
all the property between Vesey and Barclay streets, except 
that belonging to John G. Coster. It is related that he 
said to Coster: "You are not especially attached to your 
house; you can build somewhere else and find a home. 
I '11 tell you what I '11 do. Coster. You select two friends 



From the Park to Canal Street 139 

and I '11 select one. Let them get together and appraise 
the value of your house and lot, and I '11 give you 
twenty thousand dollars more than they decide as the 
value." Under such a liberal proposition, the transfer 
of the land was soon made, and the construction of the 
mammoth hotel begun. 

It was completed and opened in 1836, the marvel of 
that age, with its elegant rooms and equipments, and its 
interior quadrangle, now used for the lunch counter and 
room, laid out as a garden with a fountain in the centre. 
Notwithstanding that it was an expensive place — it cost a 
•dollar a day — the hotel became the stopping-place of many 
distinguished men. Among the names of its guests may 
be mentioned Andrew Jackson, "Sam" Houston, Webster, 
Clay, Lincoln, Irving, Hawthorne, Dickens, Macready, 
Rachel, and Jenny Lind. Thurlow Weed had his political 
headquarters in the hotel, whence he dictated the policy 
of his party and determined its candidates for office. He 
was one of the first of the political "bosses" who have 
ruled the state and the nation. Many banquets were 
given here to distinguished visitors to the city; among 
these may be mentioned one given to the Prince de Join- 
ville on November 26, 1840; and a contemporary historian 
remarks that "the dinner was held to be an exceptional 
one, inasmuch as the great number of dignitaries, officers 
of the army and navy, etc., invited, filled the capacity of 
the hall, and as there was not any space left for the usual 
hangers-on of our city fathers, the entertainment was 
hailed as one worthy of the guests and of the occasion." 
In 1844, on St. Valentine's Day, was given the first of the 
"Bachelor's balls," which was long remembered for its 
brilliancy. 

Let us turn to another incident at the hotel as told by 
the late Rev. Dr. Dix, the rector of Trinity, describing the 



140 The World's Greatest Street 

passage through the city of the Sixth Massachusetts, the 
first regiment of New England troops answering President 
Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops immediately after the 
firing on Fort Sumter. 

They came in at night; and it was understood that, after 
breakfasting at the Astor House the march would be resumed. 
By nine o'clock in the morning, an immense crowd had assem- 
bled about the hotel ; Broadway, from Barclay to Fulton Street, 
and the lower end of Park Row, were occupied by a dense mass 
of human beings, all watching the front entrance, at which the 
regiment was to file out. From side to side, from wall to wall, 
extended that innumerable host, silent as the grave, expectant, 
something unspeakable in their faces. It was the dead, deep 
hush before the thunderstorm. At last a low murmur was 
heard; it sounded something like the gasp of men in suspense; 
and the cause was that the soldiers had appeared, their leading 
files descending the steps. By the twinkle of their bayonets 
above the heads of the crowd their course could be traced into 
the open street in front. Fonned, at last, in column, they 
stood, the band at the head ; and the word was given " March ! " 
Still dead silence prevailed. Then the drums rolled out the 
time — the regiment was in motion. And then the band, 
bursting into volume, struck up — what other tune could the 
Massachusetts men have chosen? — "Yankee Doodle." I 
caught about two bars and a half of the old music, not more; 
for instantly there arose a sound stich as many a man never 
heard in his life, and never will hear; such as is never heard 
more than once in a lifetime. Not more awful is the thunder 
of heaven as, with sudden peal, it smites into silence all lesser 
sounds, and, rolling through the vault above us, fills earth 
and sky with the shock- of its terrible voice. One terrific roar 
burst from the multitude, leaving nothing audible save its own 
reverberation. We saw the heads of armed men, the gleam 
of their weapons, the regimental colors, all moving on, pageant- 
like; but naught could we hear save that hoarse, heavy surge — - 




141 



142 The World's Greatest Street 

one general acclaim, one wild shout of joy and hope, one 
endless cheer, rolling up and down, from side to side, above, 
below, to right, to left; the voice of approval, of consent, of 
unity in act and will. No one who saw and heard could doubt 
how New York was going. 

On the nineteenth, New York's pride, the Seventh, 
marched down Broadway with nine hundred and ninety- 
one men at three o'clock in the afternoon, bound for the 
national capital, amid scenes of even greater enthusiasm — - 
for these were New York's own. Nor were the scenes of 
wild joy and pride much less in the following week as the 
rest of the city's regiments marched down Broadway en 
route to Washington — the Sixth, the Twelfth, the Seventy- 
first, the Eighth, the Thirteenth, the Twenty-eighth, and 
the Sixty-ninth. The scenes were repeated in 1898, at 
the time of the Spanish War, for most of these same regi- 
ments, but not for all of those mentioned above — for two 
of them had ceased to exist, and one of them, alas! did 
not go. 

The Astor House became the resort of many of the liter- 
ary men of the first half of the nineteenth century; and 
it was no unusual thing to see many of the city's best in 
journalism, art, literature, science, and business taking 
their afternoon lounge upon its steps, watching the omni- 
buses, when, as one writer says, "You could walk from 
Barnum's to the Battery on their roofs," so numerous 
were they, or exchanging salutations with the passing 
crowds of shoppers and merchants on their daily walk 
from business to their homes below Bleecker Street ; for, 
like the present mayor of New York, Mr. Gay nor, they 
disdained to ride to or from their places of business. 

There were several reasons why they did this: their 
shops and offices were not too far away; they liked the 




BROADWAY STAGES 



144 The World's Greatest Street 

exercise; riding would in those simple days have been 
considered as tending toward luxury and indolence; and 
last, there were very few private equipages and the risk too 
great to use them over the rough cobblestones with which 
the streets were paved. In fact, there were so few private 
carriages that each was as well known as if the owner's 
name had been blazoned on its sides. The public vehicles 
were rickety, dilapidated affairs, taken only in cases of 
dire necessity. They were not even needed at funerals, 
for the body was borne by underbearers and everybody 
walked to the grave, usually only a few blocks away. 

In pre-Revolutionary days, stage routes were estab- 
lished to Boston, Philadelphia, Bordentown, Burlington, 
and other distant places. A foot post to Albany is men- 
tioned in 1730, and the post was sent by rider in colonial 
days. In 1 786, the Legislature granted to Isaac Van Wyck, 
Talmage Hall, and John Kenny, all Columbia County 
men, the exclusive right "to erect, set up and carry on, and 
drive stage wagons between New York and Albany on the 
east side of the river, for a period of ten years, forbidding 
all opposition to them under penalty of two hundred 
pounds." The grantees were obliged to furnish covered 
wagons, drawn by four horses each, and the fare was not 
to exceed fourpence a mile; and weekly trips were im- 
perative. The trip was advertised to be made in two 
days in the summer. The venture was evidently a 
success; for in 1793, the stage was advertised to leave 
Albany twice a week and not to carry more than ten pas- 
sengers. Notwithstanding the traffic, the roads were bad, 
the stages were uncomfortable, and the trip fatiguing, as 
the passengers were routed up about three or four o'clock 
in the morning and travelled until nine, or later, at night, 
putting up at poor and ill-kept inns. The stages origin- 
ally started from Cortlandt Street, but later from Broad- 



From the Park to Canal Street 145 

way and Twenty-third Street; the route, of course, was 
over the Boston Road from that point to Kingsbridge. 
The distance was 159 miles, though Colles's map of the 
roads of the United States in 1789 gives it as 1553^ to 
the ferry at Greenbush. Every one who could do so 
travelled on horseback, as the stage was not of the kind 
we read of in Dickens. The steamboat and the railroad 
sealed the doom of the old stages. 

In an advertisement of 181 1, there is notice of the 
stage to Greenwich Village, and even earlier there was a 
stage to Harlem. In 1816, Asa Hall started a stage route 
from the Battery via Broadway to Greenwich, which 
years afterwards came into the possession of Kipp & 
Brown ; and stages ran to other parts of the island. Kipp 
& Brown were very popular; and when their stables 
were burned out in 1848 a performance was given at 
the Broadway Theatre for their benefit. In 18 19, a 
stage route was started from the Bowling Green to 
Bloomingdale, 

For the city travel, these stages were superseded by 
the omnibuses, the first of which appeared in 1830, 
running from the Bowling Green via Broadway to 
Bleecker Street; but the drivers were obliging, and 
if the weather was bad, or there was a lady passenger, 
the bus would go as far as the Kip mansion between 
Washington Place and Waverly Place, on the site of the 
New York Hotel. The buses, at first, were few in number, 
but were finely painted and decorated, bearing the names 
of distinguished Americans upon their sides. There were 
the Lady Washington, the Lady Clinton, the George Wash- 
ington, the De Witt Clinton, the Benjamin Franklin, and 
others. Some of the panels with which the buses were 
decorated were true works of art. The buses became 
popular, and there were soon three lines, run by Brower, 



146 The World's Greatest Street 

Jones, and Colvin; the fare was a shilling (twelve and a 
half cents) , collected by a small boy who stood at the en- 
trance step. The entrance at first was on the side until 
Kipp & Brown changed it to the rear of the Greenwich 
buses, and the others followed suit. Other stage routes 
were established to the shipbuilding section on the east 
side, to Harlem, to Chelsea (Shepherd & Johnson), and 
to other places on the island. 

The omnibuses were drawn by four matched horses, 
and there was great rivalry among the different lines. 
The drivers were wonderful whips, and it was truly a mar- 
velous sight to see the dexterity with which they steered 
through the crowded thoroughfare, avoiding accidents 
and collisions by a hair's breadth. In the winter time 
great sleighs, drawn by four, six, or eight horses, took 
the place of the buses, and the New York boy thought he 
had a perfect right to snowball the passengers as the great 
sleighs passed by. Many people took the sleighs for the 
pure enjoyment of the ride ; and as there were no car tracks 
to be cleared, the snow remained in the street for weeks, 
making a long spell of sleighing weather. The doom of 
the stages was sealed when the street cars came ; though 
Broadway stages held on until the seventies, because 
there was no car track on Broadway and the people were 
set against the street being still further congested in its 
traffic by the presence of surface cars. The Fifth Avenue 
line remained as a relic of the golden era of the omnibus ; 
it "lagged superfluous on the stage" and was the butt of 
many jests on the part of the up-to-date New Yorker 
until the introduction of the automobile omnibus in July, 
1907, though experiments with electricity and gasoline 
motors had been carried on since 1900. Another one of 
the lines, started in 18 19 from the Battery to Bloomingdale, 
gradually worked its lower terminus up Broadway until 



From the Park to Canal Street 147 

it reached the starting-point in front of the Union Dime 
Savings Bank at Broadway and Thirty-second Street in 
the eighties and then disappeared from human ken. 

In 1 746, an act of the Provincial Assembly authorized 
the holding of a lottery to raise a sufficient sum of money 
for the advancement of learning within the colony, "and 
Towards the Founding a Colled ge within the same." It 
took many lotteries and many excise moneys before a 
sufficient sum was obtained for the establishment of the 
desired college. Religious controversies arose as to the 
management, the Presbyterian and the Reformed Dutch 
Churches objecting to the prospective control of the college 
by the Established Church when all of the colonists were 
to be taxed for its support. Trinity Church gave a tract 
of land on the west side of Broadway, provided the presi- 
dent should be a member of the Church of England. The 
differences were not yet healed when the corner-stone of 
King's College was laid in 1 756, with Dr. Samuel Johnson 
of Stratford in Connecticut as the first president. He 
was succeeded, in 1763, by Dr. Myles Cooper, who 
remained until the Revolution. He was a hot-headed 
royalist and took the wrong side in the dissensions which 
arose from the passage of the Stamp Act onwards, and 
when the news of Lexington reached New York barely 
escaped from maltreatment by a mob of patriots. 

During the Revolution, the college buildings were used 
as barracks and hospitals by the British, and the college 
was closed as an institution of learning. It was reopened 
in 1784 as Columbia College, and remained in the vi- 
cinity of Park Place until 1857, when it was removed to 
Madison Avenue and Forty-eighth Street. The neighbor- 
hood of the college at Park Place was the location of the 
best society of the city for many years. 

As early as 1770 several physicians notified Lieutenant- 



148 The World's Greatest Street 

Governor Golden that subscriptions were being solicited 
for the establishment of a public hospital; and a royal 
charter was obtained the following year. The land 
secured was from the Rutgers farm and was considered 
far out of town. It comprised five acres on the west 
side of Broadway, between the present Duane and 
Worth streets, Thomas Street being cut through later. 
The corner-stone of the building was laid by Governor 
Tryon, September 2, 1773. The building was partially 
burnt before completion, but was repaired and was 
ready for occupancy at the time the Revolution began. 
It was located on the Kalck Hook, a hill some forty 
or fifty feet high, situated on the line of Broadway, 
and, therefore, a commanding position for fortifica- 
tions, which were erected here by the British, the 
hospital building, itself, being used by the soldiers and 
being surrounded by a fort. 

After the Revolution, the buildings and grounds were 
put in order, and the hospital was ready for the reception 
of patients in 179 1. In 1787 and 1788, a number of bodies 
for the purposes of dissection by the students were dug up 
from the potter's field and from the old negro burial- 
ground. These were legitimate fields for cadavers; but 
when the resurrectionists began to invade private ceme- 
teries, the indignation of the people was aroused, and the 
medical profession was looked upon with scant reverence 
by the people at large. On the thirteenth of April, 1788, 
while the minds of the people were in this agitated state, 
some students at the hospital exposed the limbs of a body 
at one of the windows in full view of a group of boys who 
were at play near the building. The news spread like light- 
ning, and soon an enormous crowd assembled, burst open 
the doors of the hospital, destroyed a valuable collection of 
anatomical specimens, and carried off and buried several 



From the Park to Canal Street 149 

subjects which they found. The physicians hid them- 
selves, but were discovered and would have siiffered 
severely at the hands of the infuriated mob if the 
magistrates had not interfered; at last, the mob dis- 
persed, carrying the accounts of their actions to all 
parts of the city. 

The next morning a still larger crowd gathered with 
the intention of searching the houses of all suspected 
physicians; but owing to the remonstrances of Clinton, 
Jay, Hamilton, and others of the leading citizens, the mob 
dispersed. The students were removed to the jail; but 
in the afternoon a violent party gathered about the jail 
and demanded the surrender of the students, a demand 
that was, of course, refused. This aroused the worst spir- 
its of the mob; and Mayor Duane, fearing mob violence, 
called out the militia, one party of which went quietly to 
the jail without interference. A second party was arrested 
and disarmed by the mob, who then attempted to storm 
the building. The mayor, John Jay, and others attempted 
to pacify the mob, and Jay was struck by a brickbat and 
felled to the earth. The mayor was about to give the order 
to fire, when Baron Steuben interposed and implored him 
to desist; but before he could finish his entreaty, a stone 
whizzed through the air and laid him prostrate. "Fire, 
mayor, fire!" he cried; and Mayor Duane gave the order; 
the militia blazed away, and a number of rioters fell. Five 
persons were killed and seven or eight severely wounded. 
The students were sent out of town, and the public excite- 
ment slowly died out, though it was a long time before the 
ignorant could look upon the hospital without a sort of 
horror. Thus ended what is known in New York history 
as the "Doctors' Riot." It is surprising how much 
trouble can sometimes be caused by the pranks of thought- 
less students. 



150 The World's Greatest Street 

The grounds of the hospital extended to Church Street, 
and in the early days constituted with those of Columbia 
College a sort of park in which were to be found some of 
the finest trees of all varieties on the island of Manhattan. 
Adjoining the hospital grounds on the south was the 
tobacco shop of John Anderson, His assistant in the 
shop was Mary Rogers, a handsome brunette, known as 
"the beautiful cigar girl." She received a good deal of 
admiring attention from the youth of the period. The 
whole city was horrified one day to learn that her lifeless 
body had been found floating in the Hudson near the 
Elysian Fields in Hoboken. The mystery of her death 
has never been solved, but her sad fate furnished Edgar 
Allan Poe with his story of The Mystery of Marie 
Roget. 

In 1807, a lunatic asylum was built on the south side 
of the New York Hospital grounds and was used for that 
purpose until 1821, when the asylum was removed to 
Bloomingdale, overlooking the Hudson. The beautiful 
lawn and grand trees of the old hospital formed a delight- 
ful relief to the eye amid the lines of brick and stone that 
grew up on each side of Broadway; and the spot was a 
favorite one with the firemen and others when they held 
parades. After the Civil War, the property became too 
valuable to be longer used for hospital purposes, so it 
was cut up into building lots and sold, while the grand old 
trees went the way of all trees that stand in the way of im- 
provement. The original building was vacated February 
19, 1870. The hospital then remained in a state of sus- 
pension until the property on Fifteenth and Sixteenth 
streets, west of Fifth Avenue, was obtained. The new 
hospital on that site was begun in May, 1875, and opened 
on March 16, 1877. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the city 







151 



152 The World's Greatest Street 

extended as far north on Broadway as Anthony (Worth) 
Street; on the North River, as far as Harrison Street, and 
on the East River, as far as Rutgers Street. Above Worth 
Street there was a hilly country, sloping on the east toward 
the Freshwater, and on the west toward the Lispenard 
meadows and the Hudson, and dotted with the country 
seats of wealthy citizens. The Middle road ended at the 
present Astor Place, where a pale fence stretched across the 
road and formed the southern boundary of the Randall 
farm. When Broadway was regulated and graded through 
this section as far as Canal Street, there was considerable 
grading to be done ; the deepest cut was on the hill south 
of Canal Street, between White and Walker, where the 
street had to be lowered twenty-three feet ; over the ditch 
in the valley there was considerable filling in. 

When the old palisade on Wall Street was removed 
(i 699) , it was necessary that there should be some northern 
line of defensive fortifications; and a palisade, following the 
configuration of the land approximately on the line north 
of Chambers Street, was erected from river to river. In 
1756, during the French and Indian War, a row of one- 
story log huts, surrounded by a high wall, was erected on 
the negro burial-ground close to the line of the palisades. 
These extended from Broadway to Chatham Street and 
were used as barracks for the soldiers. After the Revo- 
lution, these buildings were in a dilapidated condition; 
but in 1794 they were leased by the corporation as dwell- 
ings and were occupied by free negroes and Indians 
engaged in broom- and basket-making. They did not long 
survive, however, but gave way to houses of a better 
character. Chambers Street being opened in 1796. 

At this date, there were several houses on Broadway, 
one being occupied by the Widow Provoost ; on the corner 
of Reade Street there was a stable. In 18 10 the con- 



From the Park to Canal Street 



153 



struction of Washington Hall was begun, taking up about 
half the block on the east side between Chambers and 
Reade streets; it was completed in 18 12. The building 
was one of the finest in the city and was to be used as a 
hotel and meeting-place, especially of the Federalists, as 
an offset to Tammany Hall, the rendezvous of the Repub- 




roSSJNG— BARRfTr 



From Valentine's History of Broadway 

WASHINGTON HALL IN 1 82 8 



licans. On the twenty-second of February, 1813, during 
the war with Great Britain, Captain James Lawrence in 
command of the Hornet defeated and sank the British 
Peacock. Upon Lawrence's visit to New York in May, 
he was given the freedom of the city and was tendered a 
great banquet at Washington Hall on the fourth. Before 
the month was out, he was in Boston in command of the 



154 The World's Greatest Street 

Chesapeake, and within a month of the banquet in his 
honor, Lawrence was dead. At the conclusion of the 
war, a great ball was given at the Hall in honor of the 
return of peace, and among the participants were the best 
people of the city. In 1816, according to Haswell, there 
were only two billiard rooms in the city, one at the Cafe 
Frangais in Warren Street, and the other in Washington 
Hall. James Fenimore Cooper originated a club in 1824 
which met at Washington Hall; this was the "Bread and 
Cheese Club," which numbered among its members the 
most eminent scholars and professional men of New York. 
Among these were Halleck, the poet; De Kay, the natural- 
ist ; William and John Duer, representing the bar ; Renwick, 
philosophy; Verplanck and King, letters; Charles Davis 
and Philip Hone, merchants, and several who were poli- 
ticians. It received its curious name from the fact that 
in balloting for membership, bread signified aye, and 
cheese 710. 

The litterateurs, dramatists, actors, and others of this 
period have been styled the "Knickerbocker Authors," 
the writers of the first half of the nineteenth century, who 
by their work rendered idle the sneer of the English that 
America had no literature and that we were a race of crib- 
bers and copyists. The taunt was certainly well deserved 
in our early days, for our journals, and especially our first 
magazines, were nothing better than reproductions of the 
critiques, essays, poems, and other articles of the English 
journals. Irving and Cooper did an inestimable service 
to American literature by convincing Englishmen that we 
could do original writing, and Nathaniel P. Willis consti- 
tuted the last of a triumvirate whose work was recognized 
across the water as being worthy and distinctive — in fact, 
the recognition of their literary ability came from the 
other side first, and it needed the British stamp of ap- 



From the Park to Canal Street 155 

proval before they were fully accepted by our own people. 
Cooper and Irving are still read abroad, but who in 
America reads either of them to-day, and how many of 
our omnivorous novel readers have ever heard of Willis, 
the Beau Brummel of that era and the editor of the Home 
Journal ? 

Among other contributors to the "Knickerbocker 
Literature" were some whose names have endured, as 
William Cullen Bryant and Edgar Allan Poe; but how 
many know of James K. Paulding, the colleague of Irving 
in the Salmagundi papers, or of Gulian C. Verplanck? 
Fitz-Greene Halleck, the first American writer to have a 
statue erected to him in New York, is known to every 
schoolboy as the author of Marco Bozzaris and as the 
author of those tender and beautiful lines on the death of 
his friend Drake : 

Green be the turf above thee, 

Friend of my better days ! 
None knew thee but to love thee, 

Nor named thee but to praise. 

That friend, Joseph Rodman Drake, is known, of 
course, throughout the wide extent of the land as the 
author of that poem of glowing patriotism. The Ameri- 
can Flag; but who knows of his Culprit Fay, his To 
the Bronx, and other exquisite poems? The same ques- 
tion may be asked in regard to others of that enthusi- 
astic coterie. George P. Morris is known as the author 
of one poem, Woodman, Spare that Tree, and Samuel 
Woodworth as the author of The Old Oaken Bucket; 
but outside of these their work is unknown except to 
the student of American literature. Perhaps, after all, 
their cases and those of their contemporaries are only 
proofs of the universal law of the "survival of the fittest," 



156 The World's Greatest Street 

as exemplified in their appearing at all in anthologies of 
American verse. In literature, as in education, there 
must be selection. Life is too short to read everything 
or to learn everything; and the anthologist selects that 
which is best, or most popular — they are, by no means, 
synonymous. 

Others of the group were Bayard Taylor, Dr. Gris- 
wold, Richard Henry Stoddard, Charles Fenno Hoffman, 
and, later, Edmund Clarence Stedman; and among the 
journalists were Charles Dana, James Gordon Bennett, 
Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, and William 
L. Stone. 

We are more or less familiar with the features of 
Cooper, Irving, Bryant, Taylor, and others; but they are 
portraits taken in later life. It is hard for us to realize 
that these men were once young and that their youth was 
remarkable for its gaiety, if we except the greatest genius 
of them all, Edgar Allan Poe. They were full of the wine 
of life, endowed with the creative, imaginative, and poetic 
temperament. Their gatherings were jovial and friendly, 
and their feasts by no means patterned after those of 
Barmecide. These were the men who entertained 
Dickens and Thackeray at stately banquets at the City 
Hotel or Washington Hall or at less conventional, but 
probably more enjoyable, private affairs. The Irvings 
and their closest friends cut up "high jinks" when they 
went down to Cockloft Hall on the Passaic near Newark, 
which appears so often in the Salmagundi papers. Their 
satire was not always gentle, and there are accounts of 
challenges to the duelling ground at Weehawken, when 
some butt felt himself too much aggrieved at newspaper 
articles. The telegraph, the telephone, the steam rail- 
road, the horse car, even, did not exist ; and there were not 
that rush and bustle, that desire to make a "beat" 



From the Park to Canal Street 157 

which distinguish the journaUst of to-day. There was 
more leisure time for a stroll along Broadway, or to take 
one's stand at the City Hotel, the Astor House, or Wash- 
ington Hall and admire the crowds of beautiful women 
engaged in the delightful feminine occupation of shopping 
at Jotham Smith's, Stewart's, or the other shops in these 
neighborhoods — the fair shoppers probably not unmindful 
of the admiring glances cast upon them.* 

Irving, of course, was the creator of Diedrich Knick- 
erbocker, that fine old Dutch historian, who is the symbol 
of New York just as much as John Bull is of England, or 
Uncle Sam of the United States. Our New York writers 
were the first in the land, antedating by several years the 
brilliant galaxy which made Boston almost synonymous 
with culture. Halleck, Bryant, Willis, and others were 
New Englanders, who sought the city for that encourage- 
ment and opportunity they could not get elsewhere, for 
here were the publishers and the magazines. Some of these 
were the Mirror, the Broadway Journal, edited by Poe, 
and the Knickerbocker, which, if it did not make its con- 
tributors rich, at least added to the reputation and 
power of its editor, Lewis Gaylord Clark. 

George P. Putnam first established himself as a 
publisher at 155 Broadway, almost within the shadow of 
the City Hotel. The rhymed title-page of the Fable 
Jar Critics ends with 

Set forth in October, the 31st day. 

In the year '48, G. P. Putnam, Broadway. 

Putnam moved in 1849 to Park Place, where the second 
edition of the Fable was brought out; but by a curious 

* For a delightful account of many of the leading literary lights of this 
period, one should read Richard Henry Stoddard's Recollectioyis, Personal 
and Literary. 



158 The World^s Greatest Street 

oversight, the title-page was not re-edited, and the 
"G. P. Putnam, Broadway," stood as in the first edition. 
Hawthorne's first novel was published by the same house, 
but it was not a success. In 1853, Putnam's Monthly 
was first published at 321 Broadway, adjoining the Hos- 
pital. It was the first of the magazines which might be 
called American ; that is, it was not made up of extracts 
from the British periodicals with a few poems and minor 
articles by American writers, for which very little, if any- 
thing, was paid. Putnam's, on the contrary, solicited 
work from American authors, to whom it paid at least 
five dollars a page for prose and ten dollars for a poem. 
It ceased publication in the panic of 1857, to resume 
again after the Civil War; but it was finally merged in 
Scribner's Magazine, and that in the Century. 

Booksellers and publishers grew with the advance- 
ment of an American literature and followed the fashion- 
able folk up town from below Canal Street. Twenty -five 
years ago, many of the book-houses were located on or 
near Broadway from Spring Street northward; now we 
find most of them above Fourteenth Street as far as the 
Forties ; but they have deserted Broadway. 

Dr. William Langstaff was an intimate friend of 
Drake and Halleck, and his shop at 360 Broadway was a 
favorite lounging-place of the two poets. Langstaff had 
been unsuccessful as a physician, and was set up in busi- 
ness by his friend, Henry Eckford, who also paid his 
expenses abroad, where he went with Drake and the 
latter's wife. 

In 1828, Thomas Hogg was located as a florist in the 
Bowery, but removed to 388 Broadway in 1832; he was 
probably the first florist in the city. His nurseries, as 
we would call them to-day, were on the Bloomingdale 
Road near Twenty-third Street, and were known in those 



From the Park to Canal Street 159 

days as Hoggs Gardens, an objective point to which to 
drive from the city. 

One of the houses on the same block as Washington 
Hall contained two stores about twelve feet wide, one of 
which was occupied by A. T. Stewart, Stewart's career 
exemplifies the opportunities of this land better, probably, 
than that of any one else, if we except John Jacob Astor. 
Stewart came to this city in 1823 at the age of twenty, 
just after his graduation from Trinity College, Dublin. 
He readily found employment here as a teacher of modern 
languages and mathematics, in a private school in Roose- 
velt Street, and he stumbled into the dry-goods business 
almost by accident. A friend with whom he became in- 
timate asked him for a loan of money with which to start 
a dry-goods store, and Stewart advanced the money. 
The friend was unable to begin business after he bought 
his stock; and Stewart, rather than lose his money, de- 
cided to open the store himself. This he did, first going 
to Ireland, where he converted all he had into cash, and 
returned with a stock of Belfast laces. He struggled 
along as best he could; but he did not make much head- 
way, and found out very soon that he would be unable to 
meet a note which was falling due. He marked his goods 
down to wholesale prices and flooded the town with ad- 
vertisements of the remarkable bargains he had to offer. 
Customers flocked to his store, and he soon had closed 
out his stock for enough to pay his note and restock his 
store. His customers found they had good bargains, and 
continued to trade with him, and his business grew. 
He had learned one lesson, however, which he practised 
through his subsequent career — and that was not to buy 
on credit. 

At first he was his own clerk, porter, office boy, and 
everything else; but he was able to move from Number 



i6o The World's Greatest Street 

283 Broadway in 1827 to a larger store at Number 262, 
and not long afterward, in 1830, to Number 257. April 
7, 1844, Stewart bought from the heirs of John G. Coster, 
Washington Hall and its site, and proposed to turn it 
into a dry-goods store; but the building was burned on 
July fifth. The construction of his new building, which 
now occupies the entire block between Chambers and 
Reade Streets, was at once begun, and the original part, 
about half the block, was completed and opened for busi- 
ness in 1845. By 1862, the uptown movement of busi- 
ness and population was pronounced; and his business 
had so increased that he erected the store at Broadway 
and Tenth Street, gradually increasing it until he had 
the whole block to Ninth Street, and from Broadway to 
Fourth Avenue. 

Stewart was also a great buyer of real estate, second 
only to Astor, and when he died, was the richest merchant 
in the world, his estate being valued at fifty millions of 
dollars. There was much litigation over it, as he left no 
direct heirs; and the stealing of his body from St. Mark's 
churchyard was more than a nine-days' sensation. His 
business enterprises went through several hands before 
they came into those of John Wanamaker, the great 
Philadelphia merchant, who continues the uptown store. 
The lower business was discontinued, and the edifice was 
converted into the Stewart office building, in which are 
housed several of the departments of the municipal gov- 
ernment. The site has been considered several times for 
a new municipal building, but the Centre Street site was 
finally selected in 1909, and the building is now in course 
of construction. 

In the days when Stewart first opened his marble 
store between Chambers and Reade Street, the opposite 
corner was occupied by the Irving House, a fashionable 



From the Park to Canal Street 



i6i 



hostelry, extending from Number 273 to Number 2873/2- 
Ball, Black, & Co., the jewellers, were located at the corner 
of Murray Street for some years, moving later to the 
neighborhood of Houston Street and then to Fifth Avenue, 
where they became Hays & Co. In an illustrated paper 
of 1858, their store at Murray Street, and many other 




EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY, BETWEEN DUANE AND PEARL STREETS, IN I807 



points on Broadway, are shown as decorated and illumi- 
nated on September first of that year in honor of the 
laying of the Atlantic cable by Cyrus W. Field. 

The same rule held in this portion of Broadway as in 
the section below the Park — the east side of the street 
was occupied at first by meaner buildings, which gave 
place to those of a better quality before 1815. The first 



1 62 The World's Greatest Street 

residence of any degree of elegance was that erected by 
David Clarkson opposite the New York Hospital, at 
which point the proposed sidewalks were to stop— this 
was before 1800. Numbers 306 and 308 were exceptions 
to the rule, being three-story brick buildings of good 
quality. About 18 18 a fine house was erected at 306 by 
John McKesson, and seems to have been a favorite with 
drug merchants, for it was occupied later by H. H. 
Schieffelin. 

Several of the frame buildings between Duane and 
Pearl Streets were demolished in 1826 to make way for 
Masonic Hall. This was a fine, Gothic structure in- 
tended for the purposes of the Masonic fraternity. The 
second floor was considered the most splendid apartment 
of the kind in the United States, being ninety-five feet 
long, forty-seven feet wide, and twenty-five feet high. 
The room was an imitation of the Chapel of Henry VHI. 
in London, and was designed for public meetings, con- 
certs, balls, and similar functions. 

The same year that the Hall was erected, William 
Morgan, a member of the Masonic order living in Batavia, 
threatened to divulge the secrets of the organization. 
He was arrested on trumped-up charges and put in jail, in 
order to prevent him from making the anticipated dis- 
closures. He was taken secretly from the jail by a party 
of Masons to Fort Niagara, where he remained several 
days as a prisoner, and then was seen no more. A body 
was found in the Niagara River which was identified as 
that of Morgan, though the identification was after- 
ward discredited. "It was a good enough Morgan until 
after election," was the remark made by a political leader 
of the an ti- Masonic party ; and so it proved. The whole 
affair was investigated by committees of successive 
Legislatures, but nothing positive as to his fate has ever 



From the Park to Canal Street 



163 



been determined. The Morgan affair, however, was 
sufficient to arouse the passions of the people of the State ; 
and Freemasonry was so decried on all sides that it 
became extremely unpopular. The politicians took hold 




MASONIC HALL, ON THE EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY, BETWEEN DUANE 
AND PEARL STREETS, 183O 



of the matter, and exploited it for their own purposes, 
so that for a number of years, anti-Masonry was one of the 
planks in the political platforms of the warring parties, 
even spreading to other states. Under such circum- 
stances. Masonry received "a black eye" from which it 



1 64 The World's Greatest Street 

did not recover for many years; and Masonic Hall lost 
its popularity. In 1841, it changed hands, the original 
stockholders receiving neither principal nor interest for 
their investment. The building then became known as 
Gothic Hall, and was used as a concert hall and for public 
meetings of various kinds, but was demolished after 
about twenty years of existence, and made way for fine 
business buildings at 314 and 316 Broadway. 

Above Anthony Street, but one house had been erected 
previous to 1800. The property belonged to a Mr. Sny- 
der who conducted a brewery between Pearl and Anthony 
Streets. After his death, his widow married Anthony 
Steenbach, who continued the brewery in connection with 
James Brown; their houses stood at the southeast and 
northeast corners of Anthony Street. Within a decade 
afterwards several fine residences were erected on the 
block. On the next block above, between Catherine 
Lane and Leonard Street, there was a grocery store oc- 
cupied by Cahoone and the hardware store of Stephen 
Conover, established in 18 10, developing later into the 
firm of Conover & Co., dealers in tiles, mantels, etc. 
These buildings gave way in 1840 to the building of the 
Society Library, used occasionally for entertainments. 
This Society had been started in 1754, and incorporated in 
1772, the books being stored in the old City Hall in Wall 
Street. During the Revolution, the library was looted 
by the British soldiers, and the books hawked about the 
streets, and sold for drink, so that few of them remained 
when the Americans came into their own again. The 
Society started once more in 1793 in Nassau Street, re- 
moving later to Chambers Street, where it remained until 
1840, when it removed to the above site on Broadway. 
It was soon crowded out of this last place by the upward 
trend of business in 1853, and removed temporarily to 




APOLLO ROOMS IN 183O 
165 



1 66 The World^s Greatest Street 

the Bible House, and to its present home in University 
Place in 1857. The vacated building on Broadway was 
occupied by D. Appleton & Co., the publishers. 

Edward Windust conducted one of the most famous 
oyster cellars in the city. It was situated on Park Row, 
not far from the Park Row Theatre, and was the resort 
of actors and literati. To give a list of its patrons would 
be to print a roster of the famous actors who made the 
old Park famous. Windust waxed rich, and about 1836 
he opened the Athenaeum Hotel, corner of Broadway and 
Leonard Street; but his trade did not follow him, and 
Windust was only too glad to return to his former loca- 
tion, to find, alas! that his trade had deserted him. 

The property on the block between Leonard and 
Franklin Streets was occupied by David Clarkson until 
1808, when he sold out for $30,000 to Rufus King and 
John Lawrence, who cut the property up into building 
lots. The land extended about one hundred and sixty 
feet on Broadway, with a depth of three hundred and 
eighty feet. A panoramic exhibition was conducted 
here in 18 10 by John J. Holland, but within five years 
afterwards fine residences were constructed. Numbers 
350 and 352 were owned by Thomas Cooper, the tra- 
gedian, and Stephen Price, joint lessees of the Park 
Theatre. Their houses were joined together about 1850, 
after the death of Price, and conducted for several 
years as the Carlton House, which gave way in turn to 
the wholesale dry-goods house of E. S. Jaffray & Co. 

Between Franklin and Canal Streets, a great part of 
the land belonged to the Van Cortlandts; and other lots, 
including the old Colics reservoir at White Street, be- 
longed to the city. There was little improvement here 
until after 181 5, though in 1795 there appears an adver- 
tisement of Rickett's Amphitheatre, which stood on three 



From the Park to Canal Street 167 

lots north of White Street and which was used as a circus 
and for panoramic and theatrical shows. Within five 
years later the erection of fine residences began; among 
the public buildings on the two blocks between White and 
Canal Streets were Florence's Hotel, Concert Hall at 
404, Enterprise Hall at 410, and the Apollo Gallery at 
412. 

There were several characters to be seen on Broad- 
way in those early days, threescore of years ago. Promi- 
nent among these was McDonald Clarke, familiarly 
known as "the mad poet." He had no ostensible means 
of support, but his friends saw that he did not want. 
Occasionally a set of verses over his signature would ap- 
pear in print ; and, as they were always love sonnets of a 
melancholy type, it was believed that the poet's madness 
was due to disappointed love. Another character was the 
"Gingerbread" man, a harmless lunatic, who was al- 
ways seen on the trot as if anxious to get somewhere, but 
who never succeeded in getting to his destination, where- 
ever it was. He received his odd name from the fact 
that his only visible diet was composed of the grotesque 
gingerbread figures which were common enough in all 
bakeshops until a few years ago. His pockets were usually 
well supplied with these delectable articles; he would be 
seen to take one out, munch it, and then run along on his 
usual trot to a street pump, take a drink of water, and 
then resume his never-ending journey to nowhere. An- 
other personage was the "Lime-Kiln" man, also a harm- 
less lunatic, whose clothes were always streaked with 
whitewash. It was surmised that he slept in the vacant 
lime-kilns that stood on the shore of the river, and the 
finding at last of his dead body in one of these gave con- 
firmation to the story. The identity of these two way- 
farers has remained a mystery. 



i68 The World's Greatest Street 

Of a different class from these three, was "Dandy" 
Cox, a good-looking, showy mulatto, who made a living 
by repairing men's clothes; and a very good living too, 
if we are to judge by his appearance in public with his 
high-stepping horse, his brilliant, not to say gaudy, ap- 
parel, with his little darky tiger hanging on behind his 
high two-wheeled vehicle. Cox was a caricature of the 
ultra-fashionables of the period, but his showy appear- 
ance on Broadway was as good an advertisement as any 
Barnum could concoct. An adventurer who cut a wide 
swath in society for a time was the bogus Baron Von Hoff- 
man, who came near to marrying one of the rich society 
belles. His imposture was detected, and he made a pre- 
tence of shooting himself. The Evening Post of June 12, 
1823, says : "Baron Von Hoffman of Sirony, who used to 
serenade our ladies with the Tyrolese air so merrily, under 
their windows on Broadway, a year or two ago, and one 
day took French leave of them all, now shows away as 
one of the ' nobility and persons of distinction in Dublin.' " 
Halleck followed this up with an ode addressed to the 
vanished "Baron." 

How light was thy heart till thy money was gone ! 
And when all was gone, 'twas the devil to find thee; 
The nest still remained, but the eagle was flown. 

One of the two four-in-hand teams known to the Knick- 
erbocker era was that owned and driven by Henry Marx, 
a noted fop of the day with independent means, who had 
the courage to depart from the sombre dress of the period 
and appear in habiliments expressing his own fancy; in 
consequence, he was known as "Dandy" Marx. He was 
the first man to appear on Broadway with a waxed 
moustache. He originated and commanded a company 



From the Park to Canal Street 169 

of hussars which became famous among the mihtia of 
the city and which had enrolled in its ranks the young 
fellows of the best families of the city — a forerunner of 
Squadron "A." Marx himself belonged to one of the 
leading families, and though handsome, manly, and gen- 
erous, died a bachelor. 

Another wretched individual who haunted Broadway 
and the publishers there was Poe, who made double 
money on more than one occasion by selling the same 
poem or article to two different magazines — one of the 
vagaries of his genius, a lack of conscience. Upon one 
occasion he entered the office of Mr. Putnam on Broad- 
way and, like Coleridge's ancient mariner, fixed the pub- 
lisher with "glittering eye." "I am Mr. Poe." Mr. 
Putnam was all attention at this self-introduction from 
the author of The Raven and The Gold Bug. The visitor 
then went on to explain that he had a new theory of the 
universe, in comparison with which Newton's discovery 
of gravitation was a mere incident. He called for pen, 
ink, and paper and was soon furiously at work. The 
publisher left the office to go home, the bookkeeper also 
left, and finally the porter, who put the poet out. Poe 
returned the next day, and continued at work and com- 
pleted his paper on the third day, working at high pres- 
sure in a half -intoxicated condition. After receiving two 
advances from the publisher for his work, the poet de- 
manded a third; and, upon being refused, threatened to 
take a copy and sell to another publisher. Poe was very 
optimistic about this work — Eureka, a Prose Poem — 
and wanted Putnam to issue a first edition of one mil- 
lion copies; the publisher printed seven hundred and fifty, 
two thirds of which were on the shelves at the end of the 
year. In this new theory of the universe it seems that Poe 
may have forestalled the nebular hypothesis as put forth 



170 The World's Greatest Street 

by the astronomers. Whether it was an inspiration on 
his part, or whether he had picked up some stray facts 
in regard to it from various scientific articles, who can 
say? 




CHAPTER VIII 

FROM CANAL STREET TO UNION SQUARE 



!•>> ?K^K YING northeast of the City Hall 

^7'"»i't*^^7 Park was the pond which has been 

C.lt''i^''^4^'l%jl frequently mentioned in these 

^-^ ^' I pages, the Collect, or Freshwater. 

It had outlets to both the East 



River and to the Hudson, and it 
had been proposed several times 
from very early days to connect 
the two rivers by a canal across the island, making 
of the Collect an inland harbor, or basin. Near the 
North River, the little stream found its way through 
swamps and meadow land, which were known as Lis- 
penard's Meadows after the owner, Leonard Lispenard, 
who had married the daughter of Anthony Rutgers, the 
original grantee from the city in 1 730. Under the terms 
of his grant, Rutgers was obliged to drain the land; but 
it was not until 1792 that steps were taken to render the 
land useful for building purposes. Then followed plan 
after plan for disposing of the water of the Collect and its 
outlets; and these were of such diverging character that 
in the multitude of schemes nothing was done. At last, 
in 1808, the proprietors of adjoining lands in despair 
at the inactivity of the local authorities, petitioned the 

171 



172 



The World's Greatest Street 



Legislature for the appointment of a commission that 
would adopt and carry out any one plan, however im- 
perfect, rather than that they should continue to be held 
up in their improvements by so many fluctuating ideas. 
The result was the laying out of a street one hundred 
feet wide, through the middle of which was an open ditch, 
or canal, with planked sides, which continued to carry 



|^£|3L#: 




Dra\sii l.y A. Avj'. v ' ••: . i : :- ^ 

LISPKNAKD's xMEADoWS, taken from the site of the ST. NICHOLAS 
HOTEL, BROADWAY 



off the water of the Collect. Trees were planted along 
the sides of the ditch and the street became populated; 
but this took several years to accomplish. 

In early days, the meadows were a favorite place for 
the sportsmen of the town, as ducks, snipe, and other 
game were plentiful. In the winter time, the skaters 
occupied the frozen meadows, and the slopes of the hills 



From Canal Street to Union Square 173 

were convenient coasting places for the younger people. 
The Trinity Church farm extended as far north as this on 
the shore of the Hudson. Wishing to help the Lutheran 
Church located at Rector Street, the Trinity corporation 
offered it several acres of land near the meadows; but 
after looking it over, the officers of the Lutheran Church 
declined the offer, as the land, in their opinion, was not 




THE STONE BRIDGE AT CANAL STREET 

(From Valentine's Manual, 1857) 

worth fencing in. The river road to Greenwich passed 
over the meadows on a causeway and bridge. All that 
now remains of the ancient meadow is the small, trian- 
gular park at the foot of Canal Street near the Hudson. 
The regulating and grading of the streets in the 
vicinity were going on and the tops of the hills were 
used in filling in the Collect and the low land of Duggan 
Street, as it was first called after a tanner of that name 



174 The World's Greatest Street 

who was located at Broadway and Canal Street. Within 
twenty years afterwards, about 1840, the canal became a 
covered sewer, which still continues to draw off the water 
from the springs which fed the ancient Freshwater Pond. 
At Broadway the stream was crossed by an arched 
bridge, which was known as the Stone Bridge. This 
was probably built by the British when occupying 
the city during the Revolution to serve as a means 
of communication between their fortifications on the 
Kalck Hook and those above the stream at Bayard's, 
or Bunker, Hill. The ancient bridge is buried some eight 
or ten feet below the surface of the present thoroughfare ; 
and when the engineers come to build the proposed sub- 
way under the line of Broadway, they will run across the 
old landmark. Near the bridge was the Stone Bridge 
Tavern. About 1850, the New York and New Haven 
Railroad had its station near the site of the bridge — 
this was then about the centre of the city. 

In 1 80 1, the Legislature authorized the appointment 
of a commission to lay out the upper part of the island 
above Houston Street in streets and avenues. The com- 
mission, consisting of Simeon De Witt, Gouverneur 
Morris and John Rutherford, began its work in 1807 
with John Randall, Jr., as surveyor; the work was 
finished and the final plan submitted in 1821. In the 
plan of streets, no allowance was made for the natural 
configuration of the land nor for the lanes and roads 
already existing, except in a few cases, as with the Boston 
Road. Instead, a system of broad, parallel avenues, 
crossed by streets at right angles, was adopted which, 
while it might make for convenience, did not make for 
beauty, especially as the commission was chary in the 
allotment of spaces for public parks, for which, at that 
time, they could see no adequate reason. Their lack 



From Canal Street to Union Square 175 

of foresight in that respect has since cost the city many- 
unnecessary milHons of dollars which might have been 
saved if the plan had included a number of parks for 
the prospective population. In the formation of this 
plan, the idea was at first seriously considered of doing 
away with Broadway altogether, as it was believed that 
the main artery of the city's business life would be the 
Boston Road, leading from the Park via Park Row and 
the Bowery. In fact, Felix Oldboy designates Broadway 
as "an accidental thoroughfare." The laying out of 
the city as far north as One Hundred and Fifty-fifth 
Street caused a good deal of merriment on the part of 
the general population, and a good deal of fun was poked 
at the commissioners for their optimism, for which they 
felt called upon to apologize. 

The delay in the improvement of Canal Street held 
back the development of Broadway above that street 
for several years. The principal owner of property 
was Nicholas Bayard, whose farm extended across 
Broadway above the canal, so that the Middle Road 
divided it into the west and east farms. This land was 
badly cut up by fortifications which the British had 
erected during the Revolution. North of Bayard's west 
farm was the Herring estate, which extended north from 
Bleecker Street. Bayard's east farm extended to between 
Prince and Houston Streets; above this was the land of 
Alderman Dyckman ; above him was the land of Anthony 
L. Bleecker, and above him was the Herring property, 
which thus crossed the line of the road — the eastern 
boundary of these lands was the Boston Road, or the 
Bowery. In 1802, the Middle Road was surveyed and 
a plan devised for its regulation which was adopted, 
but which had to wait for the completion of some plan 
in regard to Canal Street. In 1805, Broadway was regu- 



176 The World's Greatest Street 

lated as far as Prince Street, and in 1806, as far as Great 
Jones Street; in the following year (1807), to Art Street 
(also called Stuyvesant Street and Astor Place). By 
1809, the street was paved and sidewalks completed 
as far as Art Street. In the same year, Mr. Samuel 
Burling offered to the city as many poplar trees as might 
line Broadway, provided the city would stand the expense 
of carting them and setting them out. The proposition 
was accepted by the corporation as *'an additional beauty 
to Broadway, the pride of our city." There was public 
spirit. for you. We do not find it in later days, when 
some of the biggest swindles perpetrated against the 
city have been the enormous prices of trees which have 
been used to line our boulevards and streets, and which 
ought to have been supplied by the nurseries in our 
public parks. 

A few pioneers found their way above Canal Street, 
but the war with England in 181 2 deterred others from 
trying the experiment. By 1820, however, there were 
a good many settlers as well as a good many vacant lots. 
The houses generally were of a poor character; though 
several fine residences, belonging to such people as Abijah 
Hammond, Elbert Anderson, Gabriel V. Ludlow, Albert 
S. Pell, Foxhall A. Parker, and Citizen Genet, who had 
become a citizen of the United States after giving Wash- 
ington so much trouble when French minister, were 
distributed along the thoroughfare as far as Astor Place. 
Stephen B. Munn was a speculative builder, who erected 
numerous houses and probably reaped the benefit of his 
foresight; nor must we omit Astor, who owned property 
everywhere on the island, whose son-in-law, Walter 
Langdon, occupied a handsome house between Prince 
and Houston Streets, on the west side. On the corner 
of Prince Street, was Dr. Henry Mott, the father of the 



From Canal Street to Union Square 177 

famous Dr. Valentine Mott, Between Amity (Fourth) 
and Art streets were larger parcels of land still used as 
farms. 

The development of Broadway after 1820 was steady, 
as the stages made the section convenient. About 1825, 
at 663 and 665 Broadway, two houses were constructed 
with marble fronts, probably the only houses in the 
country so constructed. A great deal of interest was 
displayed in them by the general public at first, and the 
favorite Sunday afternoon walk of many of the in- 
habitants was as far up Broadway as Bond Street in 
order to see the "Marble Houses," as they were called, 
located near the northern boundary of the city. Later, 
they became known as the Tremont Hotel. Two other 
houses on the opposite side of the street opposite Wash- 
ington Place, with granite columns in front, remained 
standing almost within the present decade as reminders 
of the style of houses occupying Broadway at this early 
period. There are still standing two houses, one at the 
southwest corner of Third Street and the other at the 
southwest corner of Bleecker, which will give some idea 
of the style of houses of sixty years ago; though these 
have long since lost any air of distinction they may have 
possessed. 

Under date of 1850, Philip Hone says the mania for 
converting Broadway into a street of shops seems to be 
greater than ever, and that there is scarcely a block which 
is not being so transformed. There was evidently care- 
lessness in propping up adjoining houses while these 
changes were in progress; for he adds: "If they don't 
pull down the houses on Broadway, they fall of their 
own accord," referring to the startling crash of a falling 
house in his own neighborhood at Great Jones Street, 
whither he had removed in 1837 after the sale of his 



178 The World's Greatest Street 

old house at Park Place. At the close of 1869, the Board 
of Education established a Normal and High School 
for the city of New York. Temporary quarters were 
engaged at the southeast corner of Broadway and Fourth 
Street, and Thomas Hunter, principal of old 35 in 
West Thirteenth Street, was chosen president. On 
February 14, 1870, the school opened with seven hundred 
students. Work was begun on permanent buildings at 
Lexington Avenue and Sixty-eighth Street in 1872; 
and the College, for its name had been changed in the 
meantime, was removed to the new buildings in the fall 
of 1873. 

Astor Place was originally a road leading from the 
Bowery over to the village of Greenwich and it was called 
the Sand Hill Road, as it led along the base of a range 
of low sand hills, called by the Dutch the Zantberg, 
which extended nearly all the way across the island. 
In 1766 Lieutenant-Governor Andrew Elliot purchased 
thirteen acres of land, extending from the Bowery west- 
ward almost to the present Sixth Avenue, His later 
purchases increased his holdings to twenty-one acres, 
which he called "Minto." In 1780, he was acting 
governor of the province under the British, and left the 
city when the evacuation took place in 1783. He had 
erected a fine mansion and beautified his grounds. The 
estate came into the possession of "Baron" Poelnitz, 
who sold it in 1790 to Robert R. Randall, a shipmaster 
and merchant of the city, for five thousand pounds, 
Mr. Randall had no children and no near heirs. 

At the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, so it is 
said, who made Mr, Randall's will, the devisor left the 
property, which he had named "The Sailors' Snug 
Harbor," as a home for aged and infirm seamen, Mr. 
Randall died in 1801, and his will at once became a 



From Canal Street to Union Square 179 

matter of litigation on the part of his relatives, and it 
was not until 1831 that the matter was settled by the 
Supreme Court of the United States. It had been Mr. 
Randall's intention to have had the home occupy his 
mansion on the farm, which was to furnish vegetables, 
etc., to the inmates; but by the time his will was upheld, 
the property had become so valuable that the trustees 
thought it better to buy land on Staten Island, and the 
Snug Harbor was opened there on August i, 1833. 
The farm was divided up and let on long leaseholds 
which give the institution a yearly income of over $400,- 
000. This is one of the most munificent charities ever 
established by any one in the city. 

Adjoining the "Minto" estate of Governor Elliot 
on the north, was the farm of Elias Brevoort, which 
extended from the Bowery to between Fifth and Sixth 
Avenues, its northern boundary being Eighteenth Street. 
The house stood on the Bowery on the line of Eleventh 
Street; and though the city made efforts in 1836 and 1849 
to cut the street through, both attempts were blocked 
by the Dutch obstinacy of Hendrick Brevoort, then the 
venerable owner of the property. 

As we have come up Broadway from the Bowling 
Green, our course has been in a straight line; but after 
we have passed Canal Street, ever before our eyes and 
growing larger as we get farther north is a beautiful 
church steeple, rising apparently in the middle of the 
thoroughfare. We find the reason at Tenth Street, 
where Broadway changes its course and where stands 
Grace Episcopal Church, which was built here in 1846, 
after the removal of the congregation from Rector 
Street. By the plan of the commissioners of 1807, it 
was intended that the two main roads of the island, the 
Bowery and Broadway, should meet at the "Tulip 



i8o 



The World's Greatest Street 



tree," which was located in the present Union Square 
abreast of Sixteenth Street. It was found, however, 
that if Broadway were continued in its previous straight 
course, the meeting of the two roads would be below 
Fourteenth Street ; and the line of the Middle Road was 
therefore changed at this point. Many suggestions 
have been made to c u t ^_ % 

Eleventh Street through the 
Grace Church property, but 
these have been unsuccessful, 
as the members of the con- 
gregation represent too ^M. 




GRACE CHURCH AT THE CORNER OF TENTH STREET AND BROADWAY 

much wealth and influence. Tweed told the church boldly 
that he was going to do it, and the church authorities 
told him to go ahead ; but the street is not yet cut through. 
The church has been the scene of many fashionable 
weddings, and at several of these there have been scenes 
of crowding, spoliation of decorations, and exhibitions 
of bad manners which have made the New Yorker blush 



1 
I 



From Canal Street to Union Square i8i 

for the reputation of American women; for it has been 
the sensation-loving and uninvited women who have been 
the chief offenders. 

On the Tenth Street corner, there stood for many 
years the restaurant and bakery conducted by the 
Fleischmanns. The "bread Hne" here (only recently 
suspended) became one of the institutions of New York, 
for it was the custom of the firm to give away every 
night the bread and rolls that had not been used or sold 
during the day. It was a practical charity, duly ap- 
preciated by the poor and unfortunate — men, women, 
and children — who could be seen waiting here in line 
until midnight to receive their dole of bread, even on 
the coldest or most inclement nights. 

On the block below, is the old Stewart building, now 
occupied by John Wanamaker, who erected a still larger 
and taller building below Ninth Street in 1908, the two 
buildings being connected by a subway and a bridge 
across Ninth Street. Stewart moved here in 1862, but 
it took several years before he acquired the whole block 
between Ninth and Tenth Streets, as the Ninth Street 
corner was occupied by the firm of Goupil & Co., the 
art dealers. I remember in my boyhood seeing upon 
the steps of the Stewart store an old woman who used to 
sell shrimps — the only place in the city where I ever 
saw it done. 

Of the many churches that formerly stood on lower 
Broadway, the three already described — Trinity, St. 
Paul's, and Grace — are all that remain. When Grace 
Church left Rector Street, the corner lot there was sold 
for $65,000. The following is a list of the churches that 
once stood on Broadway: (1823) St. Thomas's Episcopal, 
Houston Street, removed in 1870 to Fifth Avenue; 
(1817) Broadway Congregational, corner of Anthony 



1 82 The World's Greatest Street 

Street, dissolved; (1845) Unitarian Church of the Divine 
Unity, between Prince and Houston Streets; (1839 to 
1865) Church of the Messiah, Unitarian, near Waverly 
Place; (1825) Scotch Baptist in a hall corner of Reade 
Street, and after several removals, again in Broadway 
near Bleecker Street; Swedenborgian, near Rector Street, 




ST. THOMAS S CHURCH, CORNER OF BROADWAY AND HOUSTON STREET, 
ERECTED IN 1 823 



removed in 1816 near to Duane Street, and the Anglo- 
American Church of St. George the Martyr at Number 
563; this last congregation, notwithstanding that it was 
assisted by Trinity, finally perished. 

The Broadway Tabernacle, Congregational, stood 
for many years between Worth Street and Catherine 



From Canal Street to Union Square 183 

Lane on the east side of Broadway. It was the scene 
of the May meetings, where WilHam Lloyd Garrison, 
Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith, and the gentle Quaker, 
Lucretia Mott, used to hold forth upon the iniquities 
of slavery and advocate its abolition. The Sacred 
Music Society, founded in 1823, gave oratorios and con- 
certs in the Tabernacle, as did later musical organizations. 
In 1856, a great gathering of citizens was held in the 
Tabernacle to express their indignation at the assault 
on Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks while Sumner 
was at his seat in the United States Senate Chamber. 
The hall is said to have been the most convenient for 
public meetings and entertainments, as well as for re- 
ligious observances, of any in the city. In the same 
year as the Sumner meeting, the Tabernacle was sold 
by its congregation, which moved to the comer of Broad- 
way and Thirty-fourth Street, and which has since 
migrated to Broadway and Fifty-sixth Street. In 
closing these paragraphs on the Broadway churches, it 
may be well to repeat the remark of an old writer, who 
said that the churches in general kept clear of the noise 
and bustle of Broadway and sought their sites in quieter 
localities. 

The hotels and restaurants sought Broadway for the 
very reason that the churches shunned it. The hotels 
that have at various times occupied sites on Broadway 
have been legion; with the exception of the Astor House, 
all the first-class hotels have departed from below Union 
Square. We may mention a few of the older and best 
known. On July 9, 1842, Mr. Pinteaux, a Frenchman, 
opened the Cafe des Milles Colonnes at the comer of 
Duane Street, which soon became famous under the 
management of F. Palmo. The accommodations and 
appointments of this restaurant were far superior to 



1 84 



The World's Greatest Street 



anything of its kind yet seen in this country. In Febru- 
ary, 1844, Palmo, who was an ItaHan and a great lover 
of the music of his native land, opened Palmo's Opera 
House at 39 and 41 Chambers Street. He was unsuccess- 



fwliiif 




BROADWAY TABERNACLE, BETWEEN WORTH STREET AND CATHERINE LANE, 
ON THS EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY 



ful as an impresario, and the theatre passed out of his 
hands, and became Burton's Theatre, where that amusing 
comedian held forth for a number of years. Another 
famous restaurant much frequented by the fashionable 
ladies and gentlemen of the thirties and forties was 
Taylor's, situated on the west side of Broadway at the 




i85 



1 86 



The World's Greatest Street 



northwest corner of Franklin Street, and figuring largely 
in the romance of the day. Ainslee's, between Duane 
and Anthony Streets, and Lovejoy's, at the comer of 
Worth Street, also shared in the public favor. Probably 
the ancestor of all the restaurants conducted in a foreign 
style was Guerin's at 120, which from 181 5 onwards 







Drawn by Eliza Greatorex 

BROADWAY AND GRAND STREET 



for several years sold confectionery, chocolate, pastry, 
liqueurs, etc. ; this was below the Park, near Maiden Lane. 
Of hotels proper, there was the Broadway Hotel at 
the northeast corner of Grand Street, erected by Abraham 
Davis before 18 10, which became the headquarters of 
the Whigs when their party was formed and where the 
returns of the elections were received. After the elec- 
tion of 1844, the hotel lost prestige and declined in popu- 
larity. After 1830, a large room on one of the upper 
floors was used for some time as an armory and drill- 
room by the second company of the Seventh Regiment. 



From Canal Street to Union Square 187 

In 1847 the New York Hotel, the second of its 
name in the city, was opened at 721 Broadway, between 
Washington Place and Waverly Place, by S. B. Monnot. 
The undertaking was considered by many to be a perilous 
one, as the hotel was so far up-town, Monnot was 
successful, notwithstanding the croakers, and after 
several years was succeeded by Hiram Cranston. The 
hotel was a favorite one with Southerners and remained 
so during the Civil War; so much so, in fact, that it was 
almost constantly under supervision by the Federal 
secret service. A number of romances have been written 
concerning the part played by this hostelry in blockade 
running and similar enterprises for the advantage of 
the Confederacy. The building was demolished in 1895, 
and the site has been marked by a bronze tablet on the 
front of the great New York Commercial Building which 
has taken its place. 

At Leonard Street, was a hotel known as the Carletcn 
House; there was another at Walker Street, known as 
Florence's Hotel; and on the west side, corner of Spring 
Street, was the St. Nicholas, a name very appropriate 
considering the Dutch ancestry of the city, but which 
has not been employed by a really first- class hotel since 
the departure of the old house. The Sinclair House 
stood for a long time at Eighth Street and has only 
been demolished within the past five years. Three 
hotels may still be found above Chambers Street; these 
are the Hotel St. Denis at Eleventh Street ; the Broadway 
Central, first established as the Grand Central at 671 
on the site of the La Farge House, where, when it was 
the Grand Central, occurred the tragic death of James 
Fisk in 1872 at the hands of a rival for the favors of 
a worthless woman; and the Raleigh, opposite Bond 
Street, adjoining the Broadway Central. This last 



1 88 The World's Greatest Street 

suffered a severe fire in the fall of 19 lo, and is marked 
for demolition, a business building having been planned 
to take its place. 

Speaking of the section of Broadway south of Bleecker 
Street, Charles H. Haswell says in his Recollections of an 
Octogenarian: 

At this period [1850], Broadway was undergoing a rapid 



:.33 




Drawn by Eliza Greatorex 

BROADWAY AND BLEECKER STREET 



change into a street of trade. The Cit}^ Hotel, after its long 
existence, at last disappeared. A. T. Stewart extended his 
building to the corner of Reade Street. All through Broad- 
way, nearly to Bleecker Street, residences were coming down 
to be replaced by business structures. 

A popular place of resort for journalists and other 
writers for some years after 1858 was "Charley" Pfaff's, 
an ill-ventilated and rather dingy place situated in a 



From Canal Street to Union Square 189 

cellar on the east side of Broadway a few doors above 
Bleecker Street. It owed its vogue to Henry Clapp and 
his associates on the Saturday Press, a journal of ephem- 
eral existence. When the paper suspended, there was 
pasted on the door of the publication rooms this notice: 
"This paper is obliged to discontinue publication for 
lack of funds; by a curious coincidence, the very reason 
for which it was started." "Pfaff's" was the resort 
of the Bohemians of both sexes, but there was good beer 
and there must have been good cooking, as we find that 
the place was visited occasionally by people who were 
somebodies in literature; such men as Thomas Bailey 
Aldrich, William Winter, the dramatic scholar and critic, 
William Dean Howells, Bayard Taylor, Edmund Clarence 
Stedman, and Walt Whitman, among others. George 
Arnold, the poet, was a visitor, and one night he saddened 
the crowd by his story of the suicide at the Stevens House 
of a friend of his, a young Englishman named Henry W. 
Herbert, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Frank 
Forrester." Another friend of Arnold, who introduced 
him to the coterie at "Pfaff's, " was George Farrar 
Brown, better known to the reading public as "Artemus 
Ward." They were a jolly crowd, but journalism had 
fallen somewhat from its high estate of a generation 
before, when the "Bread and Cheese Club" held forth 
at Washington Hall. 

Of the charms and delights of Broadway, we have the 
testimony of many people — visitors from abroad and 
from other sections of the country, as well as of residents 
of the city. Even as early as 1793, the accomplished 
wife of Vice-President John Adams writes to a friend 
at the prospect of leaving her residence at Richmond 
Hill and removing with the government to the larger 
town of Philadelphia: "And after all, it will not be Broad- 



IQO The World's Greatest Street 

way. " Let us also quote from Wilson's Memorial History 
of New York: 

A contemporary gives an interesting picture of the Broad- 
way of 1858. Once the seat of pleasant residences, shaded 
with trees, and famous for its walks and drives, it was now be- 
come a street of shops, hotels, and theatres. The business 
houses in the retail trade reached far up-town; the finer 
dwelling-houses were above Fourteenth Street and around 
Union and Madison Squares. "Broadway in 1858," says the 
Crayon of that year, "has become not unlike the Strand in 
London or a Paris boulevard. Early in the morning the 
street begins to fill with carts and vehicles bringing supplies 
from the country to the market. From all the by-streets 
which connect Broadway with the river crowds of men, wo- 
men, wagons, and horses emerge from the Brooklyn, Hoboken, 
Williamsburgh, Staten Island, and New Jersey ferries. It is 
still very early in the morning; the shops are still closed; only 
here and there an omnibus makes its reluctant appearance, 
its driver and horses not having yet shaken off the sloth of the 
night. There are also some carriages stopping before the 
Astor House, Metropolitan, St. Nicholas, and other hotels 
with a load of passengers just coming in from the east, west, 
north, or from European or California steamers. At this 
early hour Broadway looks thoroughly respectable, like a big 
ball-room." The writer goes on to paint its various changes: 
"Soon after a crowd of clerks and business men rush down the 
famous thoroughfare. Then comes later the stream of fair 
women shoppers from the upper part of the town, filling the 
sidewalks; next, in the afternoon, the tide of business men 
rushes back along the same thoroughfare; and in the evening 
the street is again crowded with persons going to theatres and 
various amusements of the night." In the later hours the 
street is no longer "respectable"; it was filled with disreput- 
able and noisy revellers ; now the police and the watchmen were 
on the alert, and the noise of wild songs and gross revelry dis- 
turbed the peace of Broadway. Such was our favorite Broad- 



From Canal Street to Union Square 191 

way thirty-five years ago. How different now! The theatres 
are gone ; the retail shops are moved up-town ; a stately range 
of oflEice buildings and wholesale stores lines the street, and 
but a few of the old hotels still linger on their early sites. In 
the day no milk-carts, no omnibuses, no crowds of fair women, 
no gallant pedestrians fill Broadway; at night no cries of 
revelry. It is silent and abandoned after eight o'clock. One 
is almost startled by its solitude. Broadway has become the 
business centre of the continent — perhaps of the world. 

Though this was written in 1893, it is equally true 
to-day; and how changed the names of the merchants 
whose signs adorn the fronts of the buildings; for it was 
about this date that, owing to the persecutions of the 
Jewish people, the tide of immigration began from 
Russia and Poland. They have certainly made good 
in this land of opportunity, and have not been satisfied 
with anything less than a virtual monopoly of the greatest 
thoroughfare in the world. And the street has been di- 
vided into sections for each line of goods ; here are general 
dry-goods; here, ready-made clothing, women's suits, 
furs, notions, children's clothing, type-writers, sporting 
goods, millinery: — each article may be found within a 
section of a few blocks, generally at wholesale, but more 
rarely at retail, and then only in the daytime. At 
night and on Sundays it might be the street of a deserted 
city, save for the street cars crawling lazily along. 



CHAPTER IX 



PLACES OF AMUSEMENT BELOW UNION SQUARE' 




FO give a list of the theatres, of the 
plays, and of the people that ap- 
peared in them would be to write a 
history of the New York stage; I 
can only lightly touch upon the 
many that have filled so large a part 
of New York life. The first theatre 
of any consequence to open after 
the Revolution was the Park Theatre, opposite City 
Hall Park in Park Row in 1798. As Broadway grew, 
the theatres grew with it ; but there is not now a theatre 
on Broadway below Twenty-eighth Street. The circus 
seems to have been more popHilar before i860 than at 
present, for there are records of several occupying the 
vacant lots of the thoroughfare before that time; some 
of these developed later into theatres, as in the case of 
Niblo's Garden, The same degree of popularity also 
extended to the negro minstrels; for while to-day there 
is not a permanent minstrel show on Broadway, if in 
the city, in those earlier days there were several com- 

* In the preparation of this chapter I have been greatly indebted to The 
History of the New York Stage, by Thomas Allston Brown, published in 
three volumes by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1903. 

192 



Amusement Places below Union Square 193 

panics occupying Broadway houses at the same time — 
Christy, Dan Bryant, Kelly and Leon, Campbell, Wood, 
Pell and Trowbridge, Morris Brothers, and many more. 

The New Yorker of the earlier day was fond of taking 
his amusements in gardens; and of these we find records 
of a great many, not only on Broadway, but elsewhere. 
Here concerts of music were given, exhibitions on the 
tight and slack ropes, displays of magic, and light plays. 
Besides these, there were the natural and artificial beauties 
of trees, plants, and flowers, and the enticements of shady 
nooks in which were served ices and other light refresh- 
ments. These gardens were eminently respectable and 
were visited by the best people. Many a gentle flirta- 
tion was carried on in these delightful places, and many 
a wedding ensued in consequence ; nor were they ignorant 
of settlements in accordance with the code of honor 
which led to the duel in the early morning, — a relic of 
barbarism now happily gone forever. Many of the 
taverns had gardens attached which served as extra 
inducements to the guests of those days, when there were 
no palatial hotels of fifteen or more stories with electric 
lights, express elevators, and all the conveniences, and 
expense, of our own time. But there were compensations 
in the fact that the proprietor knew his guests and cared 
personally for their comfort, and that a stranger need 
not long remain without companionship of the best sort 
if he had anything to commend him. 

Just above Murray Street, stood the inn and gar- 
dens of Mr. Montagnie, of which mention has already 
been made as the headquarters of the Sons of Liberty. 
Montagnie appears to have been here after the Revolu- 
tion, his place then being called the United States Garden. 
John H. Contoit conducted the place from 1802 until 
1805 when he was succeeded by Augustus Parise. Later, 



194 The World's Greatest Street 

a building called the Parthenon was erected on the site; 
and in 1825, Reuben Peale occupied the building as the 
American Museum, which was bought out several years 
later by P. T. Barnum and moved to the corner of Ann 
Street. Peale enjoyed a well-deserved patronage for 
fifteen years, the Museum being a place to which children 
could be taken with safety. On the block above Warren 
Street, a garden was maintained by a Mr. Cox. Contoit 
conducted his garden as above until 1805, when he moved 
to the block below near Park Place; four years later, 
he removed to 365 Broadway, between Leonard and 
Franklin Streets, where his New York Garden became 
the most fashionable resort of its kind in the city, aL-d 
where it remained for about forty years. 

The Mount Vernon Garden at the northwest cornei' 
of Leonard Street was opened July 19, 1800, by Joseph 
Corrie, who had been French cook to an English officer, 
and who made the cuisine of his place famous. At its 
opening, performances were given by the company from 
the Park Theatre, which house was closed for the summer. 
Close by at Thomas Street was the house of Anthony 
Rutgers who died in 1750; after his death it became a 
public house and with the surrounding grounds was 
called Ranelagh Garden, a popular place in its time. 

The Bayard east farm above Canal Street was laid 
out by a Frenchman named Delacroix, in 1798, as the 
Vauxhall Garden, and was for some years a popular 
resort with its mead booths, flying horses, fireworks, 
concerts, etc. The proprietor was obliged to move in 
1806 as population came up-town and crowded him out, 
and he located himself on Broadway, south of Astor 
Place, the Vauxhall extending east to the Bower}" (Fourth 
Avenue). A ball was given once a week, and it became 
a place of great resort. Barnum hired it for a while in 




195 



196 The World's Greatest Street 

1840, and it was afterwards used for public meetings. 
The garden was much curtailed about 1827, when Lafay- 
ette Place was cut through the property; the buildings 
were demolished in 1855. 

' It was in Astor Place that there occurred a riot on 
the tenth of May, 1849, which is sometimes spoken of 
as the "Macready riot," the enmity of the rioters being 
directed against the famous English actor of that name 
who was appearing at the Opera House, whose site is 
now occupied by the Mercantile Library. The trouble 
grew out of the rivalry of Forrest and Macready, and 
the friends of the former aroused the passions of the 
multitude by making it a dispute between American 
and Englishman. The Seventh Regiment fired upon the 
mob, thirty-four of whom were killed and many wounded. 
The regiment itself had one hundred and forty-one of 
its members hurt, some seriously. 

Up to the year 1824, the only marble building in the 
city was the City Hall; and so strong was the prejudice 
of workmen against the use of the stone for building 
purposes, that when John Scudder wished to erect the 
American Museum on the site of Hampden Hall at the 
comer of Ann Street and Broadway in the above year, 
not a workman could be persuaded to undertake the 
work, and, as a last resource, a convict was pardoned 
out of Greenwich prison on condition that he would do it. 
After the Revolution, Hampden Hall was the town 
residence of Andrew Hopper. In 1840 the museum 
came into the hands of Phineas T. Barnum, "The Great 
American Showman," who united with it the collection 
from Peale's New York Museum and continued his 
American Museum in the building until he was burned 
out, July 13, 1865. Barnum used to run what he called 
"a lecture room" in connection with the museum; and 



Amusement Places below Union Square 197 



here were given what he was pleased to call moral plays, 
so that many people who would not go to the theatre 
(horrible, demoralizing place!) went to see Barnum's 
show without any twinges of conscience. I remember 
visiting the museum here once when I was a very small 
lad, and the only recollection I have of what I saw was 
a whale swimming around in a glass tank. I know now 




i'lf.nfl U hi .,, -.;. i|ir 



^|^»!,;,iinr ■■'■ 






IJLRMXG OF barnum's MUSEUM, 1865 

that it was only a blackfish, but it looked very big to 
my boyish eyes. 

A rather funny incident is told of the old volunteer 
fire department in connection with Barnum's. The 
play was The Patriots of '7<5, and the manager invited 
the Lady Washington Light Guards, a well-drilled target 
company composed of members of Engine Company 49, 
to take part in the play. The men agreed to the proposal, 
intending to turn over their pay to some members of 
their engine company who w^ere out of work. In due 



198 The World's Greatest Street 

time they appeared on the stage, some dressed as Conti- 
nentals, others as Indians, and one as Moll Pitcher, the 
heroine of Monmouth; but while in the midst of an ex- 
citing act, the City Hall bell sounded an alarm of fire. 
"Boys," cried the foreman, who was acting with them, 
"boys, there 's a fire in the Seventh District!" With 
that, he and his thirty comrades bolted from the stage, 
rushed up Broadway for their engine, and soon returned 
with it — the most extraordinary looking fire company 
ever seen in the streets of a civilized or uncivilized com- 
munity, Moll Pitcher at the head of the rope, and a live 
Indian brandishing a foreman's trumpet. On reach- 
ing the fire, followed by a motley and jeering crowd, 
they applied themselves to the brakes; while the mana- 
ger of the museum was trying to explain to the audi- 
ence the sudden and unexpected disappearance of the 
actors. 

Many actors who afterwards became famous made their 
first appearances at Barnum's. From the way in which 
he used to keep them busy, it was said that his actors 
could always be known by the fact that they carried 
their dinner pails with them to the theatre. 

He also employed a band, which occupied a balcony 
above the entrance and discoursed so-called music "from 
early morn to dewy eve." The story is told that a 
young fellow once applied to the great showman for a 
position in his band. Barnum told the applicant to go 
ahead. At the end of the week, the musician, seeing no 
pay coming, asked for it. "Pay!" cried the showman 
with a fine display of indignation; "we said nothing 
about pay. The honor of playing in my band is pay 
enough for a youngster like you." That the general 
public did not esteem the music as much as Barnum did 
is shown in the following lines from John G. Saxe: 



Amusement Places below Union Square 199 

I love the city, and the city's smoke; 
The smell of gas; the dust of coal and coke; 
The sound of bells ; the tramp of hurrying feet ; 
The sight of pigs and Paphians in the street; 
The jostling crowd; the never-ceasing noise 
Of rattling coaches, and vociferous boys ; 
The cry of "Fire!" and the exciting scene 
Of heroes running with their mad "mercheen"; 
Nay, now I think that I could even stand 
The direful din of Barnum's brazen band, 
So much I long to see the town again! 

And Halleck gives us: 

Sounds as of far-off bells came on his ears — 
He fancied 't was the music of the spheres. 
He was mistaken, it was no such thing, 
'T was Yankee Doodle played by Scudder's band. 

Bamum did not rebuild at Ann Street after the fire, 
but moved up-town. The site was taken by James 
Gordon Bennett, Senior, April 19, 1867, and the New 
York Herald was published here until August, 1893, when 
it removed to Thirty-fifth Street. Then the towering 
St. Paul Building was erected on the vacated site at 
Ann Street. 

Between Howard and Grand streets, there was a 
building originally designed as a circus; but which, as 
appears from an advertisement of 18 12, was the Olympic 
Theatre under the management of Dv.yer and Mc- 
Kenzie. It was West's Circus before 181 9, in which year 
it opened with The Spy. It had both a ring and a stage ; 
and on the latter the Park Theatre Company appeared 
in 1822 as being at a safe distance from the city 
which, at that time, w^as scourged with yellow fever. 
In 1820 it was a circus under Victor Pepin's management, 



200 The World^s Greatest Street 

and it remained a circus as late as 1825, when it was 
owned by Pierre Lorillard; it occupied the lots 442 to 
448 Broadway. In 1827, the circus was converted into 
a theatre called the Broadway; and at one time, it was 
known as the Marine Theatre, The Olympic Theatre 
was, in 1837, built at 444 and the rest of the site was 
occupied by Tattersall's, a famous horse and carriage mart 
until the fifties. The theatre was at first unsuccessful, as 
it was ahead of the times in prices and quality of plays. 

William Mitchell leased the house and opened it, 
December 9, 1839, as a low-priced house for amusing 
performances; and it soon became the fashion and the 
most popular place in the city. Steady prosperity 
followed until 1850, whem Mitchell gave it up. George 
Holland was one of the chief attractions, and Frank 
Chanfrau appeared here as Mose, the typical Bowery 
b'hoy with his girl Lize. 

The Olympic was a little bit of a place, with a stage 
not much larger than a modern sitting-room. Though 
assisted by a small and very able company, Mitchell, 
himself, was the mainstay of his petite theatre. He was 
a great mimic and "took off" the great lights of the stage, 
such as the elder Booth, Kean, and Forrest, in a manner 
that was excruciatingly funny. His crowning success 
was an imitation of Fannie Ellsler, the famous danseuse, 
who had won the hearts of New York by her grace and 
beauty. Ellsler's piece de resistance was a ballet called 
La Tarantule, in which her grace and agility were at their 
best and aroused the wildest enthusiasm in her audiences 
at the Park. Mitchell called his caricature The Mosquitoe, 
and arrayed himself as an exact copy of the original. 

He was a short, thick-set man, with heavy, bandy- 
legs, and red, full-moon comical face; and he made up 
for the part in short lace petticoats. 



Amusement Places below Union Square 201 

his dumpy extremities encased in flesh-colored tights, white 
satin sHppers on his goodly sized feet, streamers of gay rib- 
bons fluttering from his broad shoulders, his big round head 
encircled by a wreath of bright flowers ; standing before you in 
a position of exaggerated grace, and with a fearful assumption 
of modesty, tremulously bowing to a perfect storm of cheers. 
Some faint conception may be formed of the nondescript 
apparition advertised to personate the most accomplished 
dancing woman of the age. 

In the item of graceful repose, Ellsler by common consent 
won the day; but when the item of agility comes to be dis- 
cussed, critics were divided, for Mitchell performed wonders in 
the jumping line, that were instigated by his arduous efforts 
to prevent his airy apparel from unduly rising and thus pos- 
sibly shocking the more sensitive of his refined audience. The 
closing scene of La Tarantule as performed by Ellsler was 
pronounced the "acme" of graceful power, for Fanny's aerial 
flights were stupendous; they carried Young America to the 
very verge of hopeless lunacy. Mitchell's genius was, how- 
ever, equal to such an emergency. He brought rope and 
hook to aid him in his determined resolve not to be outdone 
by a woman, and the burly humorist was through their agency 
hoisted high in air, where he kicked and floundered until the 
spectators were worn out with laughter, when he displayed a 
placard which triumphantly informed the public ''that he could 
jump higher and stay longer than Fanny ever could.' ^ 

On being lowered from his giddy height Mitchell "pir- 
ouetted" for a while, embowered in carrots, turnips, parsnips, 
and onions, and when backing out gave vent to his overflowing 
feelings with the simple broken words, " Tousand tank, me 
art too fool,'" which the arch knave had stolen bodily from 
the idol of the hour. Ellsler on more than one occasion 
witnessed the side-splitting contortions of Mitchell, and 
rewarded the incomparable mimic with genuine marks of 
her appreciation.* 

* From Last Days of Knickerbocker Life, by Abram C. Dayton. 



202 



The World's Greatest Street 



After Mitchell, Burton had it for a short time; and 
on November 6, 1850, it was opened as Fellow's Opera 
House and Hall of Lyrics with negro minstrels. It was 
used for some years for all kinds of entertainments that 
could pay the rent, and was called the American, and 
in 1853, Christy and Wood's Minstrel Hall. The "Old 
Circus," as it was sometimes called, was destroyed by 
fire, December 20, 1854; but was rebuilt and reopened. 
It became the Broadway Boudoir in January, i860, 
and the American again in August, 1863. It was finally 




NIBLO's GARDEN, SHOWING TENTS 



destroyed by fire on February 15, 1866, the City Assem- 
bly Rooms, which were overhead, suffering a like fate. 

In early years, a circus called the Stadium was 
established on the northeast corner of Prince Street. 
Shortly after the War of 181 2, it was used as a place for 
drilling officers of the militia; later, two brick buildings 
were erected on the site, in one of which the novelist 
Cooper lived for some time. The place was known as 
the Columbia Gardens in 1823 when William Niblo 
leased it, opening it as a restaurant and garden. In the 
garden was the old circus building, which Niblo converted 
into a fully equipped theatre in fifteen days after the 
burning of the Broadway Theatre, opening it July 4, 
1827. A larger and better theatre building was erected 
and opened in 1829, which was known until its last 




203 



204 The World's Greatest Street 

performance on March 23, 1895, as Niblo's Garden. 
Niblo retired from the management in May, 1861, and 
the owner, A. T. Stewart, greatly improved the house. 

In 1852, the MetropoHtan Hotel was erected between 
the theatre and Broadway, but the entrance to the theatre 
was always from Broadway. In the same building as 
the theatre was Niblo's Saloon, given over to concerts, 
spiritualistic meetings, etc., until May 9, 1865, when it 
was converted into the dining-room of the hotel. While 
many famous actors appeared at Niblo's, it is probably 
best remembered by the performances of The Black 
Crook under the management of Jarrett and Palmer, 
whose ballet and spectacular effects, not to mention the 
wwdressiness of the women performers, shocked the sense 
of propriety of the people of that era. The play had a 
great run, opening September 12, 1866, and closing 
January 4, 1868, after four hundred and seventy-five 
performances; it was revived two years later. If some 
of the shocked people of that day could see some of our 
recent plays, they would, by contrast, consider The 
Black Crook as fairly decent. The hotel and theatre 
were both demolished in 1895 to make way for a large 
office building. 

When I was thirteen I made my first acquaintance 
with Scott in his novel of Ivanhoe, a novel which I have 
read several times since and which has never lost its 
glamor for me. A couple of years later I accepted an 
invitation from my brother, the late William R. Jenkins, 
who was at that time a dramatic critic and writer, to 
visit Niblo's and see a dramatization of Ivanhoe. There 
w^e chanced to meet Mr. O'Kelly, dramatic critic of the 
Herald, who, while correspondent of that paper in Cuba, 
had been arrested and imprisoned in Havana, there- 
by almost causing an international complication. The 



Amusement Places below Union Square 205 

only member of the cast that I remember was lone 
Burke, who impersonated Rebecca. Perhaps my thoughts 
of chivalry had been too high pitched, or perhaps it 
was the scoffing of the two critics at the idea of a "blonde 
Jewess," but I remember the play impressed me as the 
veriest bathos. We stayed but one act and then wended 
our way to Booth's Theatre at Twenty-third Street and 
Sixth Avenue, where George Rignold was giving a benefit 
performance for some one — perhaps himself. Rignold 
was the first of the "matinee idols, " and his performance 
of the gallant and heroic Henry the Fifth had taken by 
storm the hearts of the feminine portion of the com- 
munity. This evening, he played Romeo, much to the 
amusement of the critics of all our papers, who united 
in genially roasting him. 

I visited Niblo's several times afterwards, seeing 
spectacular plays, Irish dramas, and what not. One of 
the funniest performances I ever saw on any stage was 
at Niblo's; it was The Babes in the Wood, with George 
Fortescue, who weighed in the neighborhood of three hun- 
dred, and Harry Mestayer, who weighed well over two 
hundred, in the characters of the little girl and boy who 
were the victims of the cruel uncle. To add to the ludi- 
crous character of the performance, the part of the captain 
of the band of kidnappers was taken by a dwarf less than 
four feet high — "Little Mac," I think he was called. 
The sight of this diminutive ruffian kidnapping the gigan- 
tic Fortescue was too funny for words. The last time 
I visited Niblo's was to see a play in which Minnie Selig- 
man Cutting, a Jewish actress who had married a member 
of the old Knickerbocker family, took the leading part. 
I have forgotten the name of the play — it was laid among 
the ancient barbarians, either Britons, Teutons, or Scan- 
dinavians, and it was well done, but it was not a success. 



206 



The World's Greatest Street 



Niblo's was already out of the world, and its audiences, 
recruited principally from the neighborhood, had little 
appreciation for and less knowledge of the ancient bar- 




tripler's hall, or metropolitan hall, 1854 

barians who overturned the Roman empire — their prefer- 
ence was melodrama. 

Tripler's Hall was opened at 677 Broadway near 
Bond Street in 1850. Jenny Lind was to have opened 
the house, but it was not ready upon her arrival early 
in September of that year and so she appeared under 
the management of Bamum at Castle Garden; she sang 



Amusement Places below Union Square 207 

at Tripler's in October. On the twenty- seventh of 
September, the hall, which was known both as Tripler's 
and as the Metropolitan, was opened by Henrietta 
Sontag in concert, repeating here her European successes. 
On the twenty-fourth of February, 1852, a memorial 
service, presided over by Daniel Webster and addressed 
by Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant, was 
held in honor of the novelist Cooper, who had died in the 
preceding September. On September 22, 1853, Adelina 
Patti, then a child ten years old, appeared in concert, 
and gave promise of the wonderful voice which was later 
to enthrall the world. On January 8, 1854, Metropolitan 
Hall and the adjoining La Farge House were destroyed 
by fire ; but the hall was rebuilt and opened in the following 
September, under the name of the New York Theatre 
and Metropolitan Opera House. The great French 
actress Rachel appeared here in 1855 and during her 
engagement contracted a severe cold which resulted in 
her death. 

Towards the close of the same year the house was 
remodelled and called Laura Keene's Varieties; and in 
the following year, it became Burton's Theatre. In 1859 
it became the Winter Garden and Conservatory of the 
Arts, the first part of the title being that by which it is 
best known and which it retained until its total destruc- 
tion by fire, March 23, 1867. The La Farge House was 
destroyed at the same time, but was rebuilt with a man- 
sard roof and called the Grand Central Hotel. As the 
Winter Garden, the theatre was the scene of many 
notable performances; among others, those of Edwin 
Booth. I remember seeing here John E, Owens in the 
title role of the play Solon Shingle, whose father "fit in 
the Revolution." 

When the fire occurred in the La Farge House, G. P. 



2o8 The World's Greatest Street 

Putnam was located at 66i, adjoining the Winter Garden 
Theatre. The fire threatened 66 1, and the books and 
stationery of Putnam were carried across the way into 
Charles Scribner's store. The present firm of Charles 
Scribner's Sons is the direct descendant of Baker & 
Scribner, estabHshed in 1846. The pubHshers and book- 
sellers could afford to locate on Broadway, With the 
exception of Cooper, who was a rich man and independent 
of literature, I can find no other literary man who had 
a house on Broadway — as given elsewhere, there were 
several who boarded or lodged on the street. Probably, 
in those days, as in these, the charge was made that it 
was the publisher who became rich. 

At 485 Broadway, near Broome Street, John Brougham 
built and opened the Lyceum in 1850; the performances 
were principally burlesques and farces. James W. 
Wallack secured the house and opened it on September 
8, 1852, with his sons, Lester and Charles, as stage- 
manager and treasurer. It was the successor of the old 
Park Theatre in the selection and presentation of its 
plays, and was steadily successful for nearly ten years 
until the playgoers had moved up-town. The prices 
of admission were fifty and twenty-five cents. The 
elder Wallack ended his career here as an actor, but not 
as a manager; as in 1861 he removed to the northeast 
corner of Thirteenth Street. After Wallack left Number 
485, the theatre was continued under various managers 
and names and underwent various vicissitudes — German 
opera, melodrama, the legitimate, concerts, Lent's Circus 
— until 1864, when it came under Wood's management 
for several years, being torn down in 1869 to make place 
for dry-goods stores. 

James W. Wallack's last appearance on the stage 
was at the close of the season of 1862, when he made his 




209 



2IO The World's Greatest Street 

farewell speech ; he died two years later. The Thirteenth 
Street theatre was continued by his more famous son 
Lester; and Wallack's Theatre and its stock company 
became synonymous with all that is best in dramatic 
art — in acting, in scenery, in stage management and 
presentation, and in the play itself. The fact that an 
actor had been a member of Wallack's company was 
sufficient recommendation as to ability and training 
to secure him admission into almost any theatre com- 
pany in the land; although Thomas Allston Brown says 
that Wallack never made a good actor, but only engaged 
those who already had reputations. The first theatre 
I ever attended n my life was Wal ack's; the play was, 
1 believe, The Clandestine Marriage, though I have little 
recollection of it. I have very distinct recollections of 
many another play at Wallack's, as at one time in my 
life I was a regular first-nighter here, and I remember 
some famous casts, especially of The School Jar Scandal 
with John Gilbert, John Brougham, Charles Coghlan, 
Charles Rockwell, E. M. Holland, and Harry Becket, 
Madam Ponisi, Effie Germon, Stella Boniface, and Rose 
Coghlan. In 1881, Wallack's was about the only theatre 
on Broadway below Twenty-third Street, as the theatre- 
going public had deserted lower Broadway; so a new 
theatre was built at Thirtieth Street which Wallack 
managed almost up to the time of his death. 

After Lester Wallack retired from the management 
of the Thirteenth Street house, it became for a time 
the German Theatre, passing later into the management 
of Henry E. Abbey, who presented grand opera. Wallack 
resumed possession January 10, 1883, and the house was 
reopened as the Star, March twenty-sixth. Then 
followed such a galaxy of actors as Modjeska, Lawrence 
Barrett, Booth, McCullough, Wilson Barrett, Boucicault, 



Amusement Places below Union Square 211 

Florence, Irving, Hermann, Robson, and Crane. But its 
days were numbered, and toward the last, it was given 
over to melodrama. The last performance, The Man- 
0' -war's Man, was g ven in April, 1901. It was a very 
rainy night, otherwise there would probably have been 
more people in the theatre to say good-bye to the old 
house. At the end of the performance there was a 
demonstration on the part of the audience, led by the 
photographer Rockwood; and those present united in 
singing yl 2 JJ La^ig Syne before dispersing to their homes. 
The building was demolished shortly afterward to make 
room for a great business structure. What recollections 
of great acting and fine casts the very name of Wahack's 
brings to those of us who are middle-aged! 

The Chinese Rooms at 539 and 541, above Spring 
Street, were opened September i, 1 851, with the Bloomer 
Company, all ladies, who dressed in the bloomer costume 
and gave fine concerts. In February, 1852, it became 
the Broadway Casino and in 1853, Buckley's Minstrel 
Hall. As the Melodeon Concert Hall (1858-61) it 
became notorious and one of the sights of New York, 
as in that neighborhood was the "Tenderloin" of the 
day, with many gambling saloons and worse places. 
After the fire of July, 1865, which burned out his Ann 
Street place, Barnum rebuilt the Melodeon Hall and 
opened it September 6, 1865, as Barnum's New Museum. 
I was an occasional visitor here as a boy and remember 
seeing Tom Thumb and Minnie Warren as well as some 
of the giants and the play of The Octoroon in the lecture 
room. Fire broke out in the part of the building occupied 
by Van Amburgh's Menagerie on March 3, 1868, and 
the place was destroyed. It was very cold weather, 
and the front of the house and the fire ladders were en- 
cased in ice, while the firemen looked like walking icicles. 



212 



The World's Greatest Street 



A second Broadway Theatre was opened in August, 
1837, on the east side of Broadway near Walker Street 
in a building formerly known as Euterpean Hall and the 
Apollo Saloon; but the enterprise was soon abandoned. 




BROADWAY THEATRE, EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY, BETWEEN PEARL AND 
WORTH STREETS, 1850 

Across the street, at Number 412, was the Apollo Bail- 
Room, a very popular resort for politicians opposed to 
Tammany Hall. In May, 1844, the Congo Minstrels, 
later called the Negro Minstrels, appeared at Apollo 
Hall. During the time of Fernando Wood, the building 



Amusement Places below Union Square 213 

became the headquarters of the Apollo Hall, or Wood, 
democracy. 

During the vogue of the Apollo Ball-Room, it was the 
resort of many of the younger set, who here found a 
freedom of action and dancing which they were denied 
in the sedate affairs of society. In fact, patronizing 
the Apollo became a mild kind of dissipation among the 
society youths, just as at a later day it was considered 
the proper thing to visit "Harry Hill's" in Houston 
Street. 

The Old Broadway Theatre was located on the east 
side of the street, between Pearl and Worth Streets, and 
was opened, on September 27, 1847, with The School for 
Scandal and Used Up, in the latter of which Mr. John 
Lester (Wallack) made his first appearance on the Amer- 
ican stage. The house had been projected by "Tom" 
Hamblin; but he was not able to carry the enterprise 
through, so that the first manager was Alvah Mann, 
who later took Ethelbert A. Marshall into partnership. 
The firm lasted until October 25, 1848, when Marshall 
became sole manager and remained so until May i, 1858. 
By this time, the theatre had become too far down- town, 
the houses were declining, and Marshall was losing money. 
Many famous actors appeared upon the boards of the 
Broadway; and it was here that Forrest and Macready 
earned their greatest laurels. The theatre closed on 
April 2, 1859, and shortly afterward, it was torn down. 

Laura Keene's Varieties at 624, above Houston 
Street, was opened November 18, 1856, and remained 
under her management until May 8, 1863 The theatre 
was remarkable for presenting all sorts of plays and for 
the ability of the actors who appeared; among these we 
find the elder Sothern, Jefferson, Mrs. D. P. Bowers, 
Matilda Heron, and Laura Keene herself. For a period 



214 The World's Greatest Street 

of six months, it became Jane English's Theatre; and 
then, on October 8, 1863, it became Mrs. John Wood's 
Olympic until June 30, 1866, and was as famous as under 
the management of Laura Keene. It then passed under 
new management; and on March 10, 1868, there was 
produced the great pantomime of Humpty Dumpty with 
George L. and Charles K. Fox as clown and pantaloon. 
The play was performed four hundred and eighty-three 
times to box-office receipts of $1,406,000 before it was 
withdrawn on May 15, 1869. I saw the play twice and 
shall never forget it; I also saw here Under the Gaslight. 
Humpty Dumpty was revived August 31, 1873, for a run 
of three hundred and thirty-three performances, and 
again on February 17, 1875, for a run of one hundred and 
twenty-seven more. Augustin Daly was one of the 
last managers of this theatre. The final performance was 
given in the house on April 17, 1880, shortly after which 
the building was torn down. The last performances of 
George L. Fox were attended with a strong element of 
pathos. It is stated that the powder he used for whiten- 
ing his face and head — bismuth, I believe — had pene- 
trated to his brain and produced insanity. He would 
be brought to the theatre, made up, and set upon the 
stage ; and so much had the character of the clown become 
a part of his very nature that he would go through his 
part and be as excruciatingly funny as in his best days. 

Buckley's Hall at 585, opposite the Metropolitan 
Hotel, was opened with Buckley's Minstrels, August 
25, 1856. Ill luck seemed to be the fate of the house; 
for until May 8, 1865, it changed its name a dozen times 
at least and was under numerous managers. On this 
latter date its luck changed, for the San Francisco Min- 
strels took possession and remained until 1870. During 
the next five years, the theatre changed its name three 




HARRIGAN & HARTS NEW THEATRE COMIQUE 
215 



2i6 The World's Greatest Street 

times, the last time becoming the Metropolitan under 
Tony Pastor, until April i, 1881. Many actors and 
actresses, as Lillian Russell and the Irwin Sisters, who 
later became famous, began their careers in this house 
under Tony Pastor. 

Wood's Minstrel Hall at 514, below Spring Street, 
was opened July 7, 1862. It became Wood's Theatre 
on June 15, 1866, with performances of the legitimate 
drama; but changed its character in September of the 
same year when it became the German Thalia Theatre. 
March 2, 1867, it again changed to Wood's Theatre 
Comique. Harrigan and Hart appeared here December 
2, 1872; and after it had been in the hands of other 
managers with variety performances, they obtained 
possession again on August 7, 1876, and kept it until 
April 30, 1 88 1, when the building was torn down and 
converted into stores. It was during this time that 
they produced "The Mulligan Guard " series, I remem- 
ber dropping into the theatre one afternoon in 1877 
and seeing the play of Old Lavender. The audience was 
small, the house was dirty and dingy, and the curtain 
did not reach the stage when lowered; yet I felt like a 
discoverer as I remarked to my companion about the 
excellence of the acting in such inharmonious surround- 
ings and prophesied a career for the protagonist of the 
play. 

Wood's Marble Hall at 561 and 563, on the west side 
near Prince Street, was famous for minstrels fifty or 
sixty years ago. George Holland became a member of 
Wood and Christy's Minstrels on October 15, 1857. 
That was the time of the panic, and Holland felt im- 
pelled to offer a semi-apology to the public in leaving 
the legitimate drama. He stated that times were so 
bad that the managers of the regular theatres could not 



Amusement Places below Union Square 217 

pay salaries, and as he had a family to support it was 
necessary for him to earn money. As soon as times 
became better he would return to his usual roles; in the 
meantime he would play his regular parts of low comedy, 
the only difference being that whereas he usually put 
red paint on his face, now he was going to put black. 
The house was torn down in July, 1877. 

The Atheneum. The Church of the Messiah, Uni- 
tarian, had been at 724 (later, 728) Broadway, near 
Waverly Place, from 1839 to 1864, when the congregation 
moved to other quarters. The church edifice took on a 
deserted and dilapidated appearance and was bought 
by A. T. Stewart, who renovated it and opened it as 
the Broadway Atheneum on January 23, 1865. Eleven 
months later, after being completely transformed archi- 
tecturally, it became Lucy Rushton's Theatre, and the 
house was dedicated to the legitimate drama; but the 
lessee failed to pay the government revenue tax and so 
had to give it up. From this time until 1881, its names 
and managers were numerous, and the performances ran 
the whole range from opera to variety. I remember 
seeing The Streets of New York here in 1869 when it 
was called the Worrell Sisters' New York Theatre. Mrs. 
Scott-Siddons, with whose husband Sothern, Nelse Sey- 
mour, Dan Bryant, and other jokers of the stage had had 
so much fun, made her American debut here in Shakes- 
pearian roles. At one time it was Daly's Fifth Avenue 
Theatre after that manager's Twenty-fourth Street 
house had been burned on January i, 1873; but he had 
the good taste to see the incongruity of the name and 
changed it the second year of his management to Daly's 
Broadway Theatre. It also bore the name of Globe 
Theatre three several times; but its name was changed 
for the last time when Harrigan and Hart opened it 



2i8 The World's Greatest Street 

as the New Theatre Comique on October 29, 1881. 
The new lessees had made it one of the handsomest 
theatres in the city; and it became immensely popular 
with the presentation of Harrigan's various plays with 
his stock company, which changed very little from 
year to year, so that every member was well-known to 
and beloved by the public. The house was destroyed 
by fire December 23, 1884, and the ground remained 
idle for a long time; then it became the Old London 
Street, February 26, 1887, and after a period of vacancy 
a gymnasium for sporting and sparring exhibitions in 
1896. This last building was demolished in September, 
1902; and at this writing (February, 191 1) the lots from 
724 to 732 are unbuilt upon. 

Hope Chapel, formerly a church on the east side of 
Broadway below Eighth Street, was opened as a place 
of amusement on March 28, 1853, for lectures, spiritu- 
alists, etc. The Davenport Brothers exhibited here their 
spirit cabinet and mystified their audiences. It became 
the Broadway Academy of Music in 1864, and a year 
later. Blitz's New Hall, given over to concerts, etc. 
When I was a boy, I saw Blitz here with his tricks and 
his wonderful trained canaries. Kelly and Leon ran it 
as a minstrel hall from 1866 to 1870, during which time 
I was an occasional visitor, taking especial delight in 
the tall, lanky, and exceedingly funny Nelse Seymour, 
who was a member of the company. The minstrel 
burlesques in black of some of the popular plays were 
also very funny ; The Grand Dutch " 5", " a take-ofif; of Offen- 
bach's opera bouffe, being very amusing and having a 
run. In 1870, the house became Lina Edward's Theatre 
for two years, when Kelly and Leon took it once more 
on November 25, 1872 ; three days afterwards the building 
was destroyed by fire. 



Amusement Places below Union Square 219 

Among the minor places of amusement on Broadway 
below Union Square were: Minerva Rooms at 460, 
where light entertainments, concerts, and lectures were 
given between 1847 and 1853; the Old Stu^^vesant at 
663, opposite Bond Street (1852), later, Academy Hall, 
Donaldson's Opera House, The Canterbury, and Mozart 
Hall until 1862; Empire Hall, later the Santa Claus, at 
596, next to the Metropolitan Hotel, between February, 

1853, and January, 1859; the Broadway Museum and 
Menagerie at 337, between November, 1853, and April, 

1854, during which time Chang and Eng, the Siamese 
Twins, were on exhibition; the Broadway Atheneum at 
654, between Bleecker and Bond Streets, on the site of 
the Astor mansion, where light drama was given, making 
it one of the most popular places in New York sixty 
years ago; World Hall at 337 and 339, corner of White 
Street, devoted to panoramas in 1854; Bunnell's Mu- 
seum, corner of Ninth Street, west side, 1880 to 1883; 
Washington Hall at 598 in 1851; and the Art Union 
Rooms and Concert Hall at 495 and 497, from 1852 to 
i860. 



CHAPTER X 



FROM UNION SQUARE TO FORTY-SECOND STREET 




S before stated, the Bowery and 
Broadway were designed by the 
commission of 1807 to meet at 
the "tulip tree"; above this was 
the Bloomingdale road, into 
which the Bowery curved sUghtly 
from its route over that part 
of the present Fourth Avenue 
below Fourteenth Street. If the 
streets planned by the commission were cut through 
from east to west, there would be formed at this place 
a number of irregular blocks of inconvenient size and 
shape. To get out of this dilemma, the commission 
laid out at this point a small park where fresh air might 
be obtained when the city blocks should be built up. 
This park they called Union Place, because here was 
the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the 
island. In 181 5, by act of the legislature, it became 
the public meeting-place, or commons, for the people 
of the city; but it was many years before it was used for 
anything else than for the shanties of the squatters 
who occupied the site. Like nearly all the public parks 
of the city, it had before 18 15 been used as a potter's 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 221 



field. In 1832, the 
corporation deter- 
mined to enlarge and 
regulate the place to 
its present area, from 
Fourteenth to Sev- 
enteenth streets and 
from Fourth Avenue 
to the extended north 
line of University 
Place. It was not un- 
til 1845, however, 
that with an expend- 
iture of one hundred 
and sixteen thousand 
dollars, the park was 
put into shape and 
that the elegant 
mansions were erect- 
ed which once sur- 
rounded the park, a 
few of which still 
remain as business 
places. Samuel B. 
Ruggles, one of the 
founders of the Bank 
o f Commerce, w a s 
chiefly instrumental 
in developing as a 
fashionable part of 
the city this section 
as well as Gramercy 
Square. 

In 1762, Elias Brevoort sold twenty- two acres of his 




ASTOH PtflCS 



JUNCTION OF BROADWAY AND THE BOWERY 



222 The World's Greatest Street 

farm, extending from the Bowery westward between the 
present Fourteenth and Sixteenth streets, to John Smith, 
from whose executors the farm passed in 1788 to Henry 
Spingler, a shop-keeper of New York, for nine hundred 
and fifty pounds. Spingler's farmhouse stood within 
the Hmits of Union Square. Other farms as far as 
Twenty-third Street on the west side belonged to Thomas 
Burling, John Cowman, Isaac Clason, Sir Peter Warren, 
Isaac Varian, and Christian Milderberger. On the east 
side, were the two farms of Cornelius Williams and 
John Watts. At the comer of the present Seventeenth 
Street and the Bloomingdale Road was a square acre 
of ground belonging to the Manhattan Bank, acquired 
so it is supposed, as a sort of refuge for conducting business 
in case of being driven from the city by the yellow fever. 

The hotel known as the Spingler House stood for 
many years on the west side of the square on the site 
now occupied by the Spingler building ; on the south side, 
near University Place, was a fashionable restaurant 
called the Maison Doree; on the southeast comer of 
Broadway and Fourteenth Street is the Hotel Churchill, 
formerly the Morton House, and originally the Union 
Place Hotel, established in 1850. 

The section surrounding Union Square for several 
blocks was for a great many years the ultra-fashionable 
part of the city. Among the prominent shops which 
occupied the west side of the square was the great jewelry 
house of Tiffany & Co., which moved here from Broadway 
and Broome Street in 1870, occupying a site upon which 
formerly had stood the Spingler Institute. Tiffany 
remained at the southwest corner of Fifteenth Street 
until 1905, when the business was moved to Fifth Avenue 
and Thirty-sixth Street, as the highest class of trade 
was moving to that avenue. Schirmer, and Ditson & 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 223 

Co., the leading music dealers and publishers of the city, 
were also here for many years before moving up- town. 
In fact, many of the leading stores of the city have moved 
from this vicinity within the past five years. To show 
how the retail trade is departing, I will repeat a story 
of one great house of international reputation, located 
near Twentieth Street, which spent $6000 more in 
advertising in December, 1910, than in previous years 
and did $55,000 less business in the same month. The 
assessed valuation of property in this neighborhood for 
taxes has been decreased in some cases for 19 10. 

The Gorham Company of silversmiths was at Nine- 
teenth Street for nearly thirty years, moving to upper 
Fifth Avenue in 1906. The great grocery house of 
Park & Tilford, which had occupied the southwest 
comer of Twenty-first Street for forty years, moved to 
the Brunswick building on Fifth Avenue in the fall of 
19 10. The last of the old mansions that once stood 
in this neighborhood was one belonging to Peter Goelet 
at the northeast corner of Nineteenth Street; it stood 
until June, 1897, amid the great business houses that 
surrounded it. It was a rather gloomy place with few 
signs of occupancy except some peacocks which strutted 
proudly around within the railed garden in front of the 
house and attracted the attention of the passers-by. 
Most of the other great houses on the thoroughfare be- 
tween Union and Madison Squares — Arnold, Constable 
& Co., Lord & Taylor, Aitken & Son, Sloan's, Brooks 
Brothers, and others — are too well known at present 
to call for description. 

On July 4, 1856, the first statue erected in New York 
since that of George III. in 1770, was unveiled with 
appropriate honors in the southeast corner of the square. 
It is the equestrian statue of George Washington, 



^ 



224 The World's Greatest Street 

designed by Henry K. Brown. It stands near the spot 
where the citizens of New York met Washington on 
the Bowery Road when he was entering the city to take 
possession upon its evacuation by the British, November 
25, 1783. At the head of Broadway is the statue of the 
gallant Frenchman Lafayette, who gave not only money 
and supplies to the American army, but his personal 




THE STATUE OF LAFAYETTE IN UNION SQUARE 

services as well, and with such marked ability as to 
deserve well of the American people. The statue is by 
Bartholdi and was given to the city in 1876 by its French 
residents. In the southwest corner of the square, is 
the statue of him who is called by Lowell "the first 
American." The Lincoln statue was modelled by Brown 
and was erected by popular subscription. It would 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 225 

be a good thing if popular subscript on would take it 
down again and erect in its place a truly artistic statue 
of the Great Liberator commensurate with the greatness 
of the subject and of the city which desires to do him 
honor. 

For many years the park was enclosed by an iron 




THE WEST SIDE OF UNION SQUARE l.N i;S97 

railing; but about twenty years ago, the city authorities 
awakened to the fact that the public parks should be 
free at all hours, especially at night in our hot spells, 
and the fence was removed. The fountain was erected 
in anticipation of the admission of Croton water and 
played for the first time upon the day of the great cele- 
bration in 1842. Several smaller fountains for drinking 
places have been erected about the park, and on the 



226 The World's Greatest Street 

north is a house of comfort with a platform facing the 
open space of Seventeenth Street from which speakers 
can address the crowds upon pubUc occasions. This 
has been a favorite out-door gathering place upon May- 
day and Labor day for the socialistically inclined; and 
one can listen upon such occasions to a variety of denun- 
ciations by wild-eyed and long-haired foreign citizens. 
You may not be able to understand anything they say 
except the one word capitalisten, which is hurled with 
such obvious and bitter hatred that you come to the 
conclusion that it cannot mean anything else but cap- 
italists. At a meeting of this sort on March 28, 1908, 
a bomb was hurled at the police, but fortunately no one 
was killed except the hurler of the missile. For some 
years an open air flower market has been held in the 
early morning at the north end of the Square. 

Of a different class from the socialistic meetings was 
the great meeting in Union Square on the twentieth 
of April, 1861, when at three o'clock in the afternoon, 
over one hundred thousand people assembled in mass 
convention to take steps to redress the insult to the flag, 
which had been fired upon at Sumter less than ten days 
before. The meeting was presided over by John A. 
Dix with eighty-seven vice-presidents from the leading 
men of the community; among whose names you will 
find only half a dozen, which, at that time, would have 
been called foreign. The list began with Peter Cooper 
and ended with John J. Astor. The most famous of the 
orators who addressed the meeting was Senator Baker 
of Oregon, who, during the Mexican War, had led a New 
York regiment to the gates of the city of Mexico, and 
who, a few months later, was to give his life for the Union 
upon the disastrous field of Ball's Bluff, on the soil of 
the Old Dominion. The resolutions adopted by the 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 227 

meeting gave encouragement to the Government and 
showed the spirit in which the city viewed the impending 
conflict. 

The mayor of the city at the time of this meeting 
was Fernando Wood, a wily and disloyal politician, 
who had proposed the secession of the city, together 
with Staten and Long islands, from the State of New 
York and the formation of a new State, to be called 
" Tri-Insula. " As mayor, he was chosen to preside at 
this meeting, and it was strongly intimated to him that 
it was as much as his place was worth if he did not come 
out boldly for the Union. With this threat in mind, 
and doubtless still further reminded of the necessity 
of being loyal by the shrill cry of a small boy perched 
in a tree: "Now, Nandy, mind what you say; you 've 
got to stick to it this time," he made a speech in accord 
with the loyal sentiments which animated the great 
crowd. A short time after the meeting there was formed 
a club of loyal and patriotic men, modelled after a similar 
one in Philadelphia, and called the "Union League 
Club." Its object was to assist the government in 
raising regiments and funds. It first occupied a house 
loaned for the purpose by Henry G. Marquand at the 
corner of Seventeenth Street and Broadway, later moving 
to Madison Avenue and now at Fifth Avenue and Thirty- 
ninth Street; its membership for many years has been 
restricted to members of the Republican party. 

One of my earliest boyish recollections is of a military 
procession in Union Square. It must have been in 1865 
and was a review of the returning troops by Governor 
Fenton; for I remember seeing him and his staff on 
horseback. Besides the great crowd, my most vivid 
remembrance is of the Seventy-ninth Regiment of 
Highlanders and of another regiment whose brilliant 



228 The World's Greatest Street 

uniforms, in which there was a good deal of red, 
particularly impressed me. This regiment was the 
Fifty-fifth, called the French Regiment or the Lafayette 
Guards, because recruited principally from men of that 
nationality. 

About thirty years ago, I lived not very far from 
Union Square in what had been the old village of Chelsea. 
My favorite walk on summer evenings was through 
Fourteenth Street, Union Square, Broadway and Twenty- 
third Street. I remember one evening passing two young 
fellows on the Square, who were evidently discussing 
that never-ending question of what one would do if he 
were rich; for as I passed them, I heard one say to the 
other: "If I were rich, I would have a new necktie every 
day. " I give this simply to show how various are the 
desires of the human heart. I trust the young fellow 
has been able to achieve his aspiration in the many 
years that have since elapsed. 

When the cable road was built on Broadway, it was 
customary for the cars to take the double curve from 
the west side of the Square into Broadway at full speed, 
the company stating that it was impossible to let go and 
grip the cable while on the curve — and the authorities 
believed them. So many accidents occurred here that 
the place became known as "deadman's curve." At 
last, the authorities threatened to do something — and 
the car company immediately found a contrivance for 
picking up and letting go the cable as successfully as on 
a straight course. 

The idea of a surface car line on Broadway had its 
inception as early as 1850, and a company of thirty 
was incorporated for the purpose. This corporation, of 
which Jacob Sharp and John L. O'Sullivan were the prime 
movers, secured from the Common Council in December, 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 229 

1852, a franchise " to lay a double track in Broadway and 
Whitehall or State Street from the South Ferry to Fifty- 
seventh Street ; and also, hereafter to continue the same 
from time to time along the Bloomingdale Road to 
Manhattan ville." In addition, the company was to 
give free transfers to omnibus lines at a number of cross 
streets and to pay an almost nominal sum to the city 
for the privileges granted. The motive power was to 
be horses, the only known power at that time for street 
traction purposes. In granting the company the right 
to extend their line to the terra incognita of Harlem, 
the aldermen little thought how promptly the Man- 
hattanville section would be built up and that their 
generous grant would in the near future prove to be of 
immense value. 

As Broadway was then the chief residential street of 
the best society of the city, strong objections were made, 
and the company was enjoined from building the road. 
The matter was carried into the courts, where the fight 
lasted for over thirty years. The aldermen and assistant 
aldermen who, notwithstanding the vetoes of the mayor, 
granted this and other franchises without adequate 
compensation to the city, were denominated ' ' The Forty 
Thieves," as each board consisted of twenty members. 
William M. Tweed was at this time an alderman, and 
Richard B. Connolly, his coadjutor in the later infamous 
Tweed ring, was already known in political and municipal 
affairs as "Slippery Dick." As a result of failing to 
obey an order restraining them from granting the 
franchise, many of the aldermen were fined and one 
was imprisoned for contempt of court. When the rail- 
road matter was finally settled in 1885, most of the alder- 
men of 1852 were dead and not more than half a dozen 
of the original incorporators were alive. 



230 The World's Greatest Street 

Between the granting of the franchise in 1852 and 
the construction of the road in 1885, the fight against 
it was so bitter and politics entered into it so largely 
that the contest had its effect upon the election of both 
state and city officials. In 1863, Commodore Vanderbilt 
stole a march on Jacob Sharp by getting the aldermen 
to grant him a franchise for the extension of the Fourth 
Avenue surface road down Broadway from Fourteenth 
Street to the Battery. He was the controlling power 
in the Harlem railroad which owned the Fourth Avenue 
line, the first surface car line in the city. In furtherance 
of his plan, the block between Thirteenth and Fourteenth 
streets on Broadway was torn up; but an injunction 
stayed the work, and the block remained in a disgraceful 
condition for two years while the matter was being 
adjudicated. 

In 1864, the Broadway and Seventh Avenue car line 
was established, and the cars were run on Broadway 
above Union Square, continuing through University Place 
below Fourteenth Street. Sharp was one of the di- 
rectors of this line and it became the backer of the 
Broadway line and the corporation through which the 
financial manipulations of the Broadway Surface Com- 
pany, as Sharp's line was officially known, were made. 
The principal difficulty experienced by the exploiters 
of the road was in getting the consent of property owners 
on Broadway below Fourteenth Street. At last, in 1883, 
Sharp succeeded in having passed at Albany a general 
railroad act which permitted the aldermen to offer the 
franchise of a street railway for sale or not, "at their 
option." 

On August 6, 1884, the aldermen, with only one dis- 
sentient vote, gave permission to lay tracks on Broadway ; 
but the mayor promptly vetoed the resolution. A tax- 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 231 

payer named Lyddy then enjoined the board from 
passing the resolution over the veto; but Lyddy was 
bought off, and at nine o'clock on the morning of August 
thirtieth, the eighteen aldermen in favor of the franchise 
were called secretly together and repassed the resolution 
granting the franchise. No notice of the meeting was 
sent to those aldermen opposed to the grant, and the 
city got little for a franchise so valuable that two millions 
of dollars had been offered for it. The feeling of the 
public in regard to this flagrant abuse of power is shown 
in a cartoon of Harper s Weekly at the time. Two 
strangers inquiring their way are saying to a New 
Yorker: "We want Broadway and Tenth Street." The 
reply was : ' ' Broadway has already been given away ; but 
if you make haste, you may be able to secure Tenth 
Street from the aldermen." 

The act of the board had hardly become public be- 
fore injunctions were at once applied for. The Supreme 
Court appointed a commission to examine into the matter 
and to report upon the case. It was shown in the sen- 
ate investigation that some members of the commission 
were connected with the interested parties. Upon a 
decision of the Supreme Court in favor of the Broadway 
surface railway, Sharp lost no time in laying tracks and 
securing equipment, buying up all the stages and horses 
of the omnibus lines, many of whose drivers he later 
used on the horse cars. The last bus ran on Broadway 
below Fourteenth Street on June 20, 1885, and the first 
public horse-car ran over the route from Fifty-seventh 
Street to the Bowling Green the next day. The cost of 
building the road was about $138,000, but the company 
was financed for over two millions. 

The action of the Board of Aldermen aroused the ire 
of the public, and the State Senate began an investigation^ 



232 The World's Greatest Street 

Their counsel was Roscoe Conkling, and the leaders of 
counsel for the railroad were James C. Carter and Elihu 
Root. One of the striking features of the investigation 
was the inability of Sharp to remember anything about 
transactions involving the drawing of checks amount- 
ing to over half a million dollars, though his memory 
was wonderful in regard to other matters. The Senate 
committee found that no legal authority had ever ex- 
isted for the construction of the Broadway surface road; 
that the Broadway Surface Railway Company was a 
sham and a scheme shaped in conjunction with the di- 
rectors of the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Company; 
that bribery had been employed and the city defrauded 
in the granting of the franchise, and that the franchise 
should be revoked. 

This was followed by the arrest of Alderman Jaehne, 
one of the "solid eighteen," on March i8, 1885. Of 
the twenty-two members of the Board of Aldermen 
that passed the franchise in August, 1884, all but two 
were found to be implicated. One of the two, Hugh J. 
Grant, later became mayor of the city. Of the remaining 
twenty, two were dead and three fled at the time of 
Jaehne's arrest. The others were indicted and tried 
for bribery and suffered various degrees of punishment 
from fines to imprisonment. The arch briber, Jacob 
Sharp, suffered imprisonment. It was shown that the 
price paid for votes was as high as $20,000. 

In the thirty-three years during which the conflict 
for the surface road had been carried on, the character 
of Broadway had changed completely. It was no longer 
a select residential thoroughfare, but it had become the 
main artery of the city's trade, and the advent of the 
horse-cars was hailed by the merchants with satisfaction. 
In a little more than five years the question arose of 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 233 

changing the motive power to cable. The public was 
strongly opposed to it; but other cities had already 
introduced the cable, and New York was obliged to get 
rid of the antiquated horse-car, and the railway company 
finally won out. For months, the street was torn up 
from end to end and business was in a demoralized con- 
dition; but the work was at last done and the first cable 




buck's horn tavern, twenty-second street and BROADWAY, IN l8l2 

(From Valentine's Manual, 1864) 

cars v/ere run in June, 1893. The change from the 
small, bumpy, and slow moving horse-car satisfied the 
public; and when, on September 5, 1898, an accident 
happened to the power house at Houston Street and the 
cars had to be hauled by horses from Thirty-fifth Street 
to the Bowling Green, their reappearance was greeted 
with derision. Then came the final change to electric 
traction. Overhead trolley wires with their potentiality 
of danger in a great thoroughfare like Broadway were 



234 The World's Greatest Street 

out of the question, and the underground trolley was 
decided upon. Other city lines were changed firet; and 
as they worked successfully, even with heavy snow on 
the ground, the work of changing on Broadway was 
begun in September, 1898. It was expected by the 
railway people that the change would be effected by 
December of the same year; but it was not until May 
26, 1901, that the cars were running by electric traction. 

This, briefly, is the history of the Broadway Surface 
Railway Company — a history replete with bribery, 
corruption, "Boodle" aldermen, iniquitous legislatures, 
and complaisant courts. 

At Twenty-second Street ana Broadway was situated 
the Buck's Horn Tavern, which is spoken of in 18 16 
as "an old and well-known tavern." It was ornamented 
with the head and horns of a buck and was set back a 
short distance from the street about ten feet higher 
than the present grade. It was a favorite road-house 
for those who drove out upon the Bloomingdale Road 
(Boston Post-road). Almost opposite the tavern, the 
Abingdon Road (Love Lane) followed approximately 
the line of the present Twenty-first Street as far west 
as the Fitzroy Road (Eighth Avenue). The drivers 
of that day used to come as far as the Buck's Horn, then 
turn through the quiet and shady Love Lane to Chelsea, 
and thence by the river road through Greenwich village 
back to the city across the Lispenard meadows. Three 
hotels still stand in this section between Union Square 
and Twenty-third Street; these are the Continental, at 
the northeast corner of Twentieth Street; the Bancroft, 
at the corner of Twenty-first Street, and the Bartholdi, 
at the southeast corner of Twenty-third Street. 

Nearly on the site of the old Buck's Horn Tavern, 
Abbey's Park Theatre stood in the seventies and eighties. 



I 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 235 

The stock company was one of the best in New York, 
containing several actors who later joined Daly's com- 
pan}^ Between seasons many well-known actors ap- 
peared; among them, Mrs. Langtry, who made her 
American debut upon this stage. The house was planned 
by Dion Boucicault, but he got into difficulties and was 




1111; sin: OF THE FLATIRON BUILDING 

not its manager when it opened in 1874, It came under 
the management of Abbey on November 27, 1876, the 
actress Lotta being his financial backer. Among the 
plays first given here was The Gilded Age in which John 
T. Ra3"mond appeared as the protagonist, Colonel 
Ivlulberry Sellers. The play was founded on Mark 
Twain's story of the same name, and I was present 
on the opening night and heard the famous humorist 



236 The World's Greatest Street 

make one of his characteristic speeches. The house was 
destroyed by fire, October 30, 1882, several hours 
before the evening performance, and was not rebuilt. 

The high building at the junction of Broadway and 
Fifth Avenue is one of the curiosities of New York archi- 
tecture, and from its resemblance in shape to the common 
household utensil is popularly called the "Flat-iron 
Building." Its site was owned by Eno of the Second 
National Bank, who also owned the Fifth Avenue Hotel 
property. The triangular block was occupied for many 
years previous to the construction of the "Flat-iron" by 
a row of two-story buildings used as shops and offices, 
and at the Twenty-second Street boundary by a tall 
building called the Hotel St. Germain, the whole pre- 
senting an anomalous appearance upon one of the most 
beautiful squares in New York, with the trees and lawns 
of Madison Square Park so prominent in the view. At 
the time that the Fuller Company was constructing the 
building to its dizzy height, the streets of the city were 
torn up and gouged out by the workmen on the subway. 
A French visitor was moved to remark upon the idio- 
syncrasies of the American people. "I look up zare, " 
he said, "and zay are going up to heaven; I look down 
zare, and zay are digging down to — ze ozzer place." 

Which recalls the remark of another Frenchman, 
Lafayette, who, upon being shown the improvements in 
this vicinity during his visit in 1824 and especially the 
plans for the continuation of Broadway above Madison 
Square, asked facetiously : "Do you expect that Broadway 
will reach to Albany?" 

At Twenty-third Street, the great Boston Post-road 
turned to the eastward, running diagonally across the 
present park and following its wandering course up the 
east side of the city to Harlem, while the Bloomingdale 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 237 

Road continued in a comparatively straight course 
toward the upper part of the west side of the island. 
The Boston Road was closed in 1 839, Where its road-bed 
used to be is the statue of William H. Seward, who was 
Governor of the State and United States Senator from 
New York. He was the favorite of many of the dele- 




MADISON SQUARE PARK AND GARDEN 

gates to the Republican Convention at Chicago in i860, 
but Abraham Lincoln beat him for the nomination. 
Lincoln made him his Secretary of State, and he held 
that position during the Civil War. The wedge-shaped 
plot of land between the two roads was a pasture in 
1815, through which a small stream found its lazy way 
to the East River, opening out here in the park into 
the Gramercy pond. Another portion of the land was 



238 The World's Greatest Street 

used as a potter's field from 1794 to 1797, when the 
burial ground was removed to Washington Square. In 
1806, a United States arsenal was erected on a plot 
of ground extending over the site of the Worth monu- 
ment; it was turned into a House of Refuge for juvenile 
delinquents in 1824 and was burned in 1838, when 
another building for the delinquents was erected in 
Twenty-third Street near the East River. 

The commission of 1807 believed that a place for 
the drilling and manoeuvres of the military organizations 
was necessary and so laid out here a parade ground, 
which was to extend from Twenty-third Street to Thirty- 
fourth and from Third Avenue to Seventh. In 18 14, 
the limits of the parade were curtailed to Thirty-first 
Street and between Fourth and Sixth avenues; at the 
same time it was called Madison Square. Like Union 
Square, the plot was occupied for many years by squatters ; 
but in 1845 Mayor Harper devoted his attention to 
public improvements and the park was reduced to its 
present size and cleared up. 

On the west side of Madison Square, between Twenty- 
third and Twenty-fourth streets, there stood for about 
thirty years the "Madison Cottage," kept by Corporal 
Thompson. This house had formerly been the homestead 
of John Horn, who owned the land where Madison Square 
is now located. When the improvements were made in 
this vicinity, the old homestead was moved from the bed 
of Fifth Avenue to the site described above. It was a 
favorite road-house on the Bloomingdale Road, and at 
certain times of the year a cattle fair was held in the ad- 
joining lot. In 1853, the Cottage gave way to Franconi's 
Hippodrome, a two story, brick building, where per- 
formances of a superior quality were given. In 1858, 
the Hippodrome in turn gave way to a magnificent 



: iMt.imaiimisifwifn'sm, 













240 



The World's Greatest Street 



marble hotel, which was for many years the most notable 
in New York. This was the Fifth Avenue Hotel, which 
was the usual stopping place of most of the presidents 
after i860 when they visited the city. 

When Arthur was President, he received here the 
first Corean embassy that visited the country. The 
interpreter was a naval officer named Foulke, a classmate 
of the author. It was here that in 1884, during the 
Blaine-Cleveland campaign, the Rev. Mr. Burchard 




Ifp^fci 



THE CORNER OF FIFTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET, 1 852 

On this site now stands the Fifth Avenue Building 



^T^ 



made use of his famous saying in referring to the Demo- 
cratic party as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and 
Rebellion." The alliterative remark, made in the pres- 
ence of Mr. Blaine, went unrebuked at the time; and 
as it was repeated in the public press throughout the 
country, it gained such wide notoriety as to aid materially 
in the defeat of Mr. Blaine for the presidency. The 
hotel also sheltered the famous "Amen Corner," where 
the politicians, journalists, and newspaper men used 
to gather in social intercourse, resulting in an annual 




i6 



241 



242 The World's Greatest Street 

dinner somewhat resembling that of the famous "Grid- 
iron Club" of the national capital. At these dinners 
gather the jurists, editors, journalists, and politicians, 
and current affairs arc burlesqued in such a manner as 
to make lots of fun, at the same time conveying a moral. 
The hotel was demolished in 1908, making way for the 
great office edifice now occupying the site. 

The Bloomingdale Road was in colonial times a 
country road leading to the hamlet of Bloomingdale and 
to the farms and country residences of wealthy citizens 
on the west side overlooking the Hudson. In 1760, this 
road was widened to four rods to about the present 
Fortieth Street, and remained so until the improvements 
in this section subsequent to 1845. It was lined with 
farmlands belonging, on the west, to Matthew Dyckman, 
Jacob Horn, Isaac Varian, James Stewart, Samuel Van 
Norden, extending on both sides of the road, Mary 
Norton, and L. Norton as far as Forty-fourth Street. 
On the east side, above the arsenal, were the Samler, 
William Ogden, and John Taylor farms, some land be- 
longing to the corporation and the farm of Arthur Kind, 
extending to Forty-fifth Street. Many of these farms 
both above and below this immediate section, were the 
country places of well-to-do New York merchants who 
had their city homes and shops below Canal Street. 
There was no Newport, Lenox, or Bar Harbor in those 
early days to take the people away from the island; 
and if there had been, there were no luxurious boats or 
Pullmans to whisk them hundreds of miles in a few hours. 

After the development of the steamboat, Ballston Spa 
became the rendezvous of the best society during the 
summer time. It was not until the middle of the nine- 
teenth century that Saratoga Springs usurped its place 
to be in its turn more or less deserted for Long Branch, 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 243 

Lenox, Bar Harbor, and Newport. Perhaps the lives of 
these people, their home lives especially, were all the more 
contented ; for they could enjoy the pleasiires of a country 
life with their families, and yet not be too far away from 
business in case of necessity. They took life more 
quietly, but enjoyed it thoroughly. There were not 
that rush, that hustle, that nervous strain and feverish 
excitement, which are, perhaps, the distinguishing fea- 
tures of our own epoch; yet the citizens acquired com- 
petencies, brought up and educated their children, and 
were not unacquainted with such comforts and luxuries 
as the time afforded. 

The "unearned increment" of these farms and country 
seats strung along Broadway — Great George Street, 
the Middle Road, the Bloomingdale and Kingsbridge 
roads — from the Commons northward to Spuyten 
Duyvel Creek, has rendered the descendants of these 
early owners wealthy beyond the dreams of Croesus. 
They still constitute the best society of New York, the 
old Knickerbocker society, which includes not only the 
descendants of early Dutch and English settlers, but 
also those of the sturdy and energetic sons of New Eng- 
land who flocked to the city after the Revolution until 
about 1840, and who became our great merchants, bank- 
ers, and financiers. It was about this later date that the 
stream of new life began running from the other side of 
the Atlantic in successive and ever strengthening waves — 
Irish, Teutonic, Scandinavian, Hungarian, Polak, Semitic, 
Italian — and New York began to assume the cosmopolitan 
aspect it wears to-day. 

On the west side of Broadway, at Twenty-fifth Street, 
the Hoffman House was located in the eighties and soon 
became one of the sights of the city on account of the 
paintings displayed in its barroom — all of them by 



244 The World's Greatest Street 

the greatest of American and European artists — the 
especial object of interest being Bouguereau's Nymphs 
and Satyr. The Albemarle Hotel adjoins the Hoffman 
House on the Twenty-fourth Street corner; and at the 
southeast corner of Twenty-seventh Street is the Hotel 
Victoria, at one time the home of the late President 
Cleveland after his first term of office. 

At the junction of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 
Twenty-fifth Street is a small, triangular park, in which 
is a granite obelisk, known as the Worth Monument. 
If we read the bronze bands which are around the stone, 
we find inscribed Chippewa and Lundys Lane of the 
War of 1 8 12 and nearly every battle of the Mexican 
War in which either Taylor or Scott fought; for Major- 
General William J. Worth was the right hand man of both 
these commanders. Worth was a native of Hudson and 
a very distinguished officer. He died in Texas in 1849, 
and his body was brought here later. After lying in 
state in the City Hall, it was buried with imposing cere- 
monies on November 25, 1857, under this monument 
erected by the City of New York. It has become cus- 
tomary in late years to erect reviewing stands abreast 
of the monument when parades and processions pass 
down Fifth Avenue to the Washington Arch, or 
up the avenue to points above. Here the reviewing 
officer, whether president, governor, mayor, or other 
distinguished person, takes his stand. 

Before leaving this section, we would recall the 
beautiful arch and colonnade erected in 1899 when 
Admiral Dewey returned from Manila. The arch was 
miscalled the "Dewey" arch. It was, in fact, a naval 
memorial arch; and upon it and the columns were the 
names of John Manley and John Paul Jones, Decatur, 
Hull, Perry, Stockton, Farragut, Porter, and a host of 




245 



246 



The World's Greatest Street 



others who have carried the flag upon the seas and 
added lustre to it in all of the wars in which the United 
States has been engaged from the Revolution to the 
present. The whole affair was made of "staff," and in 
the course of several weeks became so dirty and be- 
draggled that it had to be removed. It was intended 




THE NAVAL MEMORIAL ARCH AND COLONNADE, l! 
AND FIFTH AVENUE 



), BROADWAY 



to perpetuate the arch and colonnade in marble, and 
subscriptions were started with this end in view; but 
for some reason — perhaps because the admiral became 
too prosaic an individual by getting married — the scheme 
fell through. It is a great pity; for the Farragut statue 
opposite the Worth Monument is the only memorial 
in New York which tends to do honor to that service 




From Valentine's Manual, 1864 

THE VARIAN TREE IN BROADWAY BETWEEN TWENTY-SIXTH AND 
TWENTY-SEVENTH STREETS, 1 864 



248 The World's Greatest Street 

that has always distinguished itself in time of war, and 
which is immediately forgotten in time of peace. 

TA^enty years ago, this section between Twenty- 
third and Thirty-fourth streets was the liveliest in the 
city. Here were located many of the popular hotels; 
and in the adjoining territory was the police precinct 
known as the "Tenderloin," to be the commander of 
which was the ambition of many police captains, as 
after one or two years of it they were assured of being 
able to retire with at least a competency for their declining 
years. 

Besides the hotels mentioned, the Hoffman and the 
Albemarle, there were the Gilsey at Twenty-ninth 
Street on the east side, the Grand at Thirty-first vStreet, 
just above, now called the New Grand, the Coleman 
House on the west side between Twenty-seventh and 
Twenty -eighth streets, the Hotel Martinique at the north- 
east corner of Thirty-second Street, and the Sturtevant at 
1 1 86 Broadway, a favorite stopping place for officers of 
the army and navy. The last two have disappeared, the 
Gilsey is termed the New Breslin, and the Imperial at 
Thirty-first to Thirty-second streets, the finest hotel 
of all, has been erected and enlarged within less than 
fifteen years. Where the Gilsey House now stands was 
the field of the St. George Cricket Club, which was formed 
by the Englishmen who patronized Clark and Brown's 
English chop-house in Maiden Lane; the grounds of 
the club are now on Staten Island. At the southeast 
corner of Twenty-sixth Street, Delmonico's up-town 
restaurant was located from 1876 to 1888, when the 
Cafe Martin took its place and succeeded to its popu- 
larity. There are a number of well-known restaurants 
and Rathskellers on this part of the thoroughfare. One 
of the last relics of the olden time to disappear was a tree 



inw~~.^' 







- r- 1 



'^; 




250 The World's Greatest Street 

on the west side in front of Number 1151, near Twenty- 
sixth Street, which had been at the gateway of the old 
Varian farm near the homestead; it stood until about 
1890. 

The San Francisco Minstrels moved up-town between 
Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets, on the west side, 
in 1874, and with Birch, Wambold, and Backus ran suc- 
cessfully for several years. J. H. Haverly secured control 
on December i, 1883, and ran his "Mastodon," or " Mega- 
therian, " Minstrels for some time. He was obliged to 
go back to the paleozoic age for an animal big enough 
to represent the size of his show, with eight end men and 
the company in proportion. The house was the Comedy 
Theatre under Haverly and was run as a combination 
house. Dockstader had the place for a while and gave 
his amusing monologue Misfits. The house belongs to 
one of the Gilsey family, and it has been through all 
sorts of theatrical vicissitudes down to 1909, rejoicing 
then in the name of the Princess Theatre. "Sam" T. 
Jack ran it for some time with a somewhat risky show. 
He appeared one morning in the Gilsey office, after he 
had signed the contract, with an old valise and several 
bundles tied up in newspapers, and notified the clerk 
he had come to pay his first six months' rent. The clerk 
expected a check; but instead of producing one. Jack 
tumbled his bundles onto the table and said: "Here it 
is ; count it and see if it is right." An examination showed 
the bundles to contain a collection of bills of all de- 
nominations, mixed up in apparently inextricable con- 
fusion. One of the Gilseys and the clerk put the bundles 
into a cab and drove to the bank, where, after two hours' 
work, assisted by several of the bank clerks, they suc- 
ceeded in sorting out the mixture and found it correct 
to the last dollar. 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 251 

Lester Wallack moved into his up-town theatre at 
the northeast corner of Thirtieth Street in February, 
1 88 1, but the building was not ready for opening until 
January 4, 1882. The exterior of the building has never 
been completely finished. Here Wallack had an excellent 
stock company as before; but the house never became 
so famous or so popular as the old Thirteenth Street 
theatre — perhaps, because a new generation of theatre- 
goers had grown up and the actor-manager was getting 
old. He retired from active management, and the house 
opened as Palmer's Theatre on October 8, 1888, to become 
and remain Wallack's once more on December 7, 1896. 

The oldest theatre in this neighborhood was originally 
Banvard's Museum and Theatre at 1221 Broadway, near 
Thirtieth Street. It was the first building in the city 
erected expressly for museum purposes, and was opened 
June 17, 1867. It became Wood's Museum and Metropol- 
itan Theatre in 1868, and Wood's Museum and Menagerie 
in 1869. Very good plays with first-class actors were 
given under both managers, as I can personally testify. 
In 1877, it became the Broadway Theatre, and two 
years later it became Daly's, remaining under the man- 
agement of Augustin Daly until his death. It was the 
one theatre where the visitor could find the perfection 
ui acting, management, and presentation, whether the 
play were a French or German farce or a Shakesperian 
revival. Ada Rehan, John Drew, Mrs. Gilbert, James 
Lewis, George Clarke, and others were known, admired, 
and loved by a generation of theatre-goers. 

The Brighton theatre at 1239 Broadway opened with 
a variety show on August 26, 1878; and after many 
changes of names, became the Bijou Theatre, December 
I, 1883. 

The Manhattan (or Eagle) Theatre stood on the west 



252 The World's Greatest Street 

side of Broadway between Thirty-second and Thirty- 
third streets. It was opened with a variety show, 
October 18, 1875; later, it became the Standard Theatre, 
becoming the Manhattan again August 30, 1897. It 
was the first house in New York to present Gilbert and 
Sullivan's H. M. S. Pinafore which became so popular 
that it was played at over half a dozen theatres at the 
same time; that was before the days of international 
copyright. Towards the end of its career, it was about 
the only theatre of prominence in the city outside of the 
theatrical trust. At the last it became a moving-picture 
house, and was torn down in 1 909 to make way for Gimbel 
Brothers' big department store. 

Two other theatres have entrances from Broadway: 
Daly's old Twenty-eighth Street house, and Jo Weber's. 
The first began as Apollo Hall, and later became Daly's 
Fifth Avenue Theatre. After Daly's removal, it became 
Harry Miner's Theatre and was burned out January 
2, 1 89 1 ; it is now Keith and Proctor's. The other theatre 
on Twenty-ninth Street was originally Weber and Field's, 
where those amusing comedians gave very funny bur- 
lesques of the passing shows. After the dissolution of 
their partnership, it became Jo Weber's Theatre. 

The Union Dime Savings Bank stood on Thirty- 
second Street, facing Greeley Square, from 1876 to 
February, 19 10. From in front of the bank the old 
Bloomingdale stages had their point of departure before 
going out of existence altogether. About fifty years ago, 
the property belonged to Richard F. Carman, who asked 
$90,000 for the plot, but took $87,500, remarking to his 
agent with a chuckle of satisfaction as he closed the bar- 
gain : " I guess that fellow 's stuck. " Such was the opinion 
of many who considered the price beyond all reason for 
property in the neighborhood of Thirty-fourth Street; 




253 



254 The World's Greatest Street 

yet, in 1874, when the savings bank took title, it paid 
$275,000, or about seventy dollars a square foot for ap- 
proximately four thousand square feet. At the sale in 
October, 1906, the bank received about two hundred and 
fifty dollars a square foot; and the purchaser sold to an 
English syndicate in June, 1909, at a price which is stated 
to have been in the neighborhood of three hundred and 
seventy-five dollars a square foot, a value for city property 
only exceeded so far by the plot at the corner of Broadway 
and Wall Street. This will give some idea of the in- 
crement in land values in this vicinity within half a 
century. 

Broadway crosses Sixth Avenue at Thirty-fourth 
Street; and from Thirty-second to Thirty-fifth, there is an 
open space, except for two triangular parks. The lower 
one contains a statue of Horace Greeley and is called 
Greeley Square. The upper space contains a statue 
of William E. Dodge, one of New York's famous mer- 
chants, but since it stands in front of the Herald building, 
it is called Herald Square. The crossing here at Thirty- 
fourth Street is probably the most dangerous and the 
most congested spot on the whole line of Broadway at 
present. Though the houses on the west side from 
Thirty-second to Thirty-fourth Street, and on the east 
side above the latter to Thirty-fifth Street are actually 
on the line of Sixth Avenue, they are numbered as being 
on Broadway. 

There is now in course of construction on the block 
between Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets, on the 
east side, the Hotel McAlpin, which is to be a commercial 
hotel twenty-five stories high, with stores on the ground 
floor, one of which at the Thirty-fourth Street corner 
has already been rented at twenty dollars a square foot, 
the highest rent paid in New York. The hotel is to be 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 255 

the largest in the city and will cost for building, furnish- 
ings, lease, etc., over thirteen millions of dollars. 

When the congregation owning the Tabernacle sold 
out their property in lower Broadway, they established 
themselves at the northeast corner of Thirty-fourth 
Street and remained until March, 1902, when they moved 
temporarily to Mendelssohn Hall in Fortieth Street 
near Broadway until such time as their new Tabernacle 
was ready for them. While at Thirty-fourth Street, 
the Rev. Dr. William Taylor continued to uphold the fame 
of the church. The wedge-shaped block between Thirty- 
fifth and Thirty-sixth streets, occupied by the New 
York Herald and the Evening Telegram was previously 
occupied by a building the upper floor of which was the 
armory of the Seventy-first Regiment of the National 
Guard. The newspapers introduced an innovation in 
exposing to public view the great presses upon which 
the papers are printed and folded when they took pos- 
session, August 20, 1893; ^^"^ the windows overlooking 
the press-room are always occupied by curious and 
interested spectators. 

For many years, "Parker's, " one of the most popular 
restaurants of the city, was located at 1305 Broadway; 
but it was a simple and unpretentious place by contrast 
with the modern Broadway establishments. 

No section of the city has shown such remarkable 
advance as this portion has in the last decade. Macy's 
opened here on November 8, 1902 ; Saks & Co., a Washing- 
ton firm, a year or so earlier; and at this writing, the 
Gimbel Brothers from Philadelphia have just opened 
on the block below another mammoth store. This region 
is becoming the greatest retail section of the city. This 
is due to a great extent to the fact that within the past 
five years the Pennsylvania Railroad has erected a great 



256 The World's Greatest Street 

station a few blocks west and has connected this with 
New Jersey and Long Island by means of tunnels under 
the city and under the two rivers. 

Broadway from Thirty-fourth to Forty-seventh Street 
has been for the last few years the locality where 
the gay life of the metropolis has been most readily 
seen. Here are congregated great hotels, famous restau- 
rants, and theatres; and the brilliant illumination at 
night by the countless electric lights has caused this 
section of the avenue to be called the "Great White 
Way"; and no stranger has seen New York who has not 
traversed it. 

A quarter of a century ago, the south side of Union 
Square was the lounging place of many actors seeking 
employment at the theatrical offices in that neighbor- 
hood; and the section was called the "Rialto." With 
the upward trend of the theatres and theatrical offices, 
the "Rialto" has moved to this section of Broadway; 
and in the "off" season, the sidewalks are crowded with 
actors and actresses seeking engagements. 

It is to this part of the town that the heart of the 
exiled New Yorker turns, and it is hither that the foot- 
steps of visitors bent on gaiety naturally and inevitably 
find their way. The occupants of stores and theatres 
as far down as Twenty-third Street claim to be a part of 
it all — and they were ten years ago — but they cannot 
stop the law of progress up the famous thoroughfare. 
From abreast of the City Hall Park, in the first half 
of the nineteenth century, gay fashion has gradually 
worked its way northward to. this present section. Per- 
haps, at the end of this century, the "Great White 
Way" will be as quiet and colorless as is now the section 
of Broadway below Fourteenth Street, while the gay 
populace of that future time will find its pleasures in the 




257 



258 The World's Greatest Street 

neighborhood of Kingsbridge. This seems to be the law 
of the street. When that day comes, Manhattan Island 
will have lost the greater part of its population and will 
be devoted almost entirely to business; while the enor- 
mous mass of the people will live in the suburbs of West- 
chester County, of New Jersey, and of Long Island, 
carried daily to and from their occupations at rates of 
speed now undreamed of, and by means of transit which 
exist at present only in the dreams of visionaries. 

Yet, between Thirty-fourth and Forty-second streets, 
Broadway was sixty years ago little more than a country 
lane; and there are still many insignificant buildings 
along the thoroughfare. Beginning with the year 1838, 
various acts were passed affecting the laying out and 
widening of the Bloomingdale Road and Broadway 
between Twenty-first and Forty-fifth streets. 

Among the hotels between Thirty-fourth and Forty- 
second streets were, and are, the Marlborough on the 
west side between Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh 
streets; the Normandie at the southeast corner of 
Thirty-eighth Street; the Vendome at Forty-first Street; 
the Albany, the most recent, between Fortieth and 
Forty-first streets, both on the east side, and the Knicker- 
bocker at the southeast corner of Forty-second Street. 
This last is one of the Astor properties and occupies 
the site where stood for many years the Saint Cloud 
Hotel. On the west side, below Forty-second Street, 
the Cafe de 1' Opera opened in December, 1909. This 
was the most gorgeous and extravagantly fitted restau- 
rant the city has ever seen, costing, so it is stated, over 
a million of dollars. The news spread of its high prices, 
there was poor service, and its patrons were obliged to 
wear evening dress; as a result, it closed its doors four 
months after opening. After various vicissitudes with 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 259 

the creditors, lasting several months, the place was 
acquired by Louis Martin, rearranged and refurnished, 
and opened on Christmas Eve, 1910. Upon the same 
site at first stood the Rossmore, later the Metropole, 
and the Saint Charles, upon land which is among the 
highest in the lower part of the island and which has 
been a hotel site for over forty years. Upon the angle 
formed by the junction of Seventh Avenue and Broadway, 
there was erected, in 1910, the Heidelberg building with 
its great tower designed for advertising purposes. At 
this time (January, 191 1), it is rumored that the famous 
Chicago house of Marshall Field & Co. has acquired 
the Marlborough Hotel property for a great department 
store. 

At the northwest corner of Thirty-fifth Street a 
building called the Coliseum was opened with a panorama 
in 1873 and was run until the following year, when it 
was taken down and removed to Philadelphia during 
the Centennial Exposition. October 11, 1876, the New 
York Aquarium took its place with a theatre, and later, 
a circus attached. The place was very popular until 
1883, when it was torn down and the New Park Theatre 
was erected, opening on October fifteenth. Harrigan 
took possession and opened on August 31, 1885, after 
the destruction of his New Theatre Comique. It was 
called Harrigan' s Theatre and was successful, but the 
rent ate up the profits and Harrigan was obliged to give 
it up. It then became the Herald Square Theatre 
on September 17, 1895, and has retained that name 
until the present. 

After the destruction of his Park Theatre at Twenty- 
second Street, Henry E. Abbey had no house that he 
could call his own until 1893, when he opened the theatre 
at the northeast corner of Thirty-eighth Street, where 



26o The World's Greatest Street 

he introduced Irving, Bernhardt, and other foreign 
actors of high rank, opening with the first named on 
November 8, 1893. On September 14, 1897, the house 
was opened as the Knickerbocker, a name that it still 
retains. 

The Casino, at the southeast corner of Thirty-ninth 
Street, was opened October 21, 1882, with The Queen's 
Lace Handkerchief. The building is in the Moorish 
style, and has been, more than any other theatre in 
New York, the home of comic opera. Among its greatest 
successes were Erminie and Florodora, the latter of which 
seems to have been unfortunate for many of its partici- 
pants, as several murders and numerous scandals in 
which Florodora girls were concerned filled the columns 
of the daily papers and set the town by the ears for some 
time during and after the run of the play. 

Between Thirty-ninth and Fortieth streets on the 
west side, taking up the entire block to Seventh Avenue, 
is the Metropolitan Opera House, which opened October 
22, 1883, with Henry E. Abbey as manager. The house 
has been devoted almost exclusively to grand opera, 
as it is too great in size to be an ordinary theatre. It 
has also been the scene of many great gatherings on 
patriotic occasions, of many public balls, and of concerts, 
as well as of several fairs. The history of the operas 
produced and of the great artists and singers who have 
appeared here would fill a book larger than this. Its 
interior was destroyed by fire in September, 1892, but 
was rebuilt in the following year. 

Opposite to it on the south side of Fortieth Street 
is the Empire Theatre, whose entrance is from Broadway. 
It was opened January 25, 1893, under the management 
of Charles Frohman, and has been famous, not only for 
its early stock company, but as the New York home of 



From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 261 

such actors as John Drew, Maude Adams, and similar 
stars. 

The Metropolitan Casino, at the southwest corner 
of Forty -first Street, was dedicated on May 2'], 1880, and 
opened as a concert hall by Rudolph Aronson on October 
10, 1 88 1; to be followed later by Rudolph Bial and his 
orchestra with concerts and comic operas. On October 
20, 1884, owing to bad business, the house became the 
Cosmopolitan Skating Rink. As early as 1887, a firm 
of which Bailey the circus man was an original member 
was started for the purpose of securing the property 
and opening it as a regular theatre. The house was 
rebuilt and opened March 3, 1888, as the Broadway/ 
Theatre. One of its greatest successes was the spectacular 
play of Ben Hiir, founded on General Lew Wallace's 
famous story of the same name. 



CHAPTER XI 



FROM FORTY-SECOND STREET TO NINETY-SIXTH 




HEN we cross Forty-second Street 
we are in the very heart of the 
"Great White Way." Hotels, 
theatres, and restaurants abound, 
and the owners and purchasers of 
property seem to be imbued with 
a perfect mania for tearing down 
and rebuilding. On the triangular 
block between Broadway and Seventh Avenue is the 
high building of the New York Times, from which the 
open space from Forty-third to Forty-seventh streets 
gets its name of Times Square. The plot was occupied 
from as long back as I can remember with a block of 
two-story buildings, containing a private school and 
several quiet stores, which seemed to be almost out of 
the business of the vicinity. About 1890, a hotel- 
keeper named Regan erected a building on the south 
side of the plot and ran it with a bar and famous Raths- 
keller. In 1900, the underground railway was com- 
menced, and about the same time the Times decided to 
erect its great building on the entire plot. The Regan 
building was one of the earliest of the skeleton, steel 
and concrete construction, and its demolition after about 

262 







Geo. P. Hall & Son 

A VIEW IN TIMES SQUARE, SHOWING TIMES BUILDING 

263 



264 The World's Greatest Street 

ten years of existence was watched by the architects and 
civil engineers with a great deal of interest in order to 
see the effect upon the steel framing. As it was torn 
to pieces, it was found that everything was as good as 
the day it was put into the building. An immense, deep 
hole in the solid rock was necessary for the new building ; 
for the subway was to pass under it, and its foundations 
were to carry not only the Times building itself, but the 
tracks of the subway also, and to be able to withstand 
the vibrations of the passing trains. In many respects, 
therefore, the building is one of the most wonderful in 
New York; and until the Singer building was erected, 
it was the highest structure in the city, if we figure from 
the lowest foundations, where the presses are located, to 
the top of its high tower. 

For many years before this open space became Times 
Square, it was the location of businesses connected with 
the manufacture and repair of carriages and harness; 
and in imitation of the locality in London devoted to 
similar activities, it was popularly, though not officially, 
known as "Long Acre Square." Then it became de- 
voted to the automobile industry, but now even that has 
departed to the section above. 

One Revolutionary event is connected with Times 
Square. On the fifteenth of September, 1776, the British 
landed at Kip's Bay from Long Island with the intention 
of cutting off the American Army, then in full retreat. 
The greater part of the army was well up on the Blooming- 
dale Road, but Putnam with four thousand troops was 
still in the city. Washington despairingly attempted to 
prevent the landing of the British on the shore of the 
East River, but his troops fled almost before a shot was 
fired. Word had been sent to Putnam to join the chief, 
and he hurried his troops out of the city. Guided by 







imj teif i'i^^ljiBi 







„ g 



26= 



266 The World's Greatest Street 

Aaron Burr over the Middle Road from the fortifications 
above Canal Street, he managed to escape the cordon 
of British troops being thrown across the island and joined 
the chief on the Bloomingdale Road at this point, barely 
getting through in the nick of time. A tablet to com- 
memorate this joyful meeting of the two generals was 
erected on the west side of the square some years ago 
by the Sons of the Revolution. 

The section of Broadway from Forty-fifth to Seventy- 
first Street was laid out and widened under a series of 
acts beginning about 1845 and extending to 1869. For 
some time after the earlier of these dates, the Blooming- 
dale Road was a country lane, lined with farm lands and 
homesteads. We have already given those above Twenty- 
third Street to this point. Continuing above on the east 
side as far as Sixty-fifth Street, we find farms belonging 
to Medeef Eden, Emmet (to about Forty-ninth Street), 
Andrew Hopper, Cornelius Harsen, Deborah Burton, 
Catherine Cosine, Jane Ackerman, Rachel Cosine, 
and John H. Tallman. On the west side for the same 
distance were farms belonging to John Jacob Astor, (a 
portion of the Eden farm on which the Hotel Astor now 
stands), Francis Church, Philip Weber, Andrew Hopper, 
Striker, Jacob Hayes, John Cosine, Hegeman, Sarah 
Slack, and Havemeyer. Many of these farms extended 
down to the Hudson River even in 1800, and most of 
them had originally done so, but had been divided up 
among new owners ; and even the names given here might 
not answer for a different period. The history of nearly 
all of them would be interesting had we the space to 
give it. 

During the spring of 1910 real estate interests were 
especially active in connection with the old Hopper 
farm which was on both sides of the road. The first 




267 



268 The World's Greatest Street 

of the name was Andries Hoppe, who came to New 
Netherlands in 1652. His son, Mathjes Adolphus Hoppe, 
bought a farm extending diagonally across the road 
between Forty-eighth and Fifty-fifth streets down to 
the shore of the Hudson River. His heirs inherited the 
property, which in time became divided up among them 
and passed to other owners. One of the old Hopper 
homesteads stood for a century and a half at Fiftieth 
Street and Broadway until 1883, when William H. 
Vanderbilt bought the property, and the old house was 
razed to make way for the American Horse Exchange. 
Andrew Hopper (i 736-1 824), for whom this house had 
been built by his father, John Hopper, the second owner, 
was a merchant of New York, having a place of business 
in Chatham Street. His town house was at Ann Street 
and Broadway, the Hampden Hall of the Liberty Boys, 
which later became the site of Scudder's and Barnum's 
museums. 

The first theatrical enterprise to locate in this vicinity 
was the large structure on the east side of Broadway 
between Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth streets, erected by 
Oscar Hammer stein upon the site of a building which 
had been the armory of the Seventy-first Regiment. 
Under one roof, there were a great music hall, a concert 
hall, and a theatre, the intention being to admit to all 
for one entrance fee. It was known as Hammerstein's 
Olympia, and the first performance was given in the 
Lyric Theatre on November 25, 1893. The manage- 
ment passed from Hammerstein ; and the music hall part 
became the New York Theatre in December, 1898, 
while the Lyric became, on August 29, 1899, the Cri- 
terion, under the management of Charles Frohman. 

Within the last few years, a new course has been 
pursued in theatrical management in New York and 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 269 

throughout the country. The tendency has been for a 
great many theatres to come into the control of a few 
managers or firms, constituting what has been termed 
the "Theatrical Trust"; so that dramatic companies 
outside the combination have sometimes had difficulty 
in getting into New York houses. Another marked 
change has been the increase in the price of seats, and 
the elegance of the newer theatres. It is a far cry from 
the thirteen, twenty-five, and fifty cents of the best 
theatres of half a century ago to the dollar, dollar and a 
half, and two dollars of the present; and these prices 
are nearly always supplemented by an additional dollar 
paid to the ticket speculators who manage, notwith- 
standing the advertised efforts of the box-ofiices, to get 
the best seats in the house before any one else has a 
chance at them. 

Among the fashionable restaurants and hotels located 
here for several years are Shanley's, Rector's, Churchill's, 
the Hotel Cadillac, and the Hotel Astor. Several of these 
are putting up new buildings, so that in another year 
or so there will be a group of some of the finest hostelries 
in New York. The side streets contiguous to Times 
Square are also devoted to restaurants and theatres. 
The celebration of New Year's Eve in this neighborhood 
has become, so it is stated in the daily papers and by 
those who have been present, a grand orgy after mid- 
night, putting to blush the wildest capers of the Moulin 
Rouge, Maxim's, and other notorious places in Paris. 
For this occasion it is necessary to engage tables a long 
time ahead, and in the wa}^ of drink nothing but cham- 
pagne is served upon the night of the thirty-first of 
December. 

Rector's new hotel and restaurant at the southeast 
corner of Forty-fifth Street was opened on the twenty- 



270 The World's Greatest Street 

seventh of December, 19 10. It cost upwards of three 
milHons of dollars, but its construction is remarkable 
for the speed with which the old buildings were torn 
down and the new one erected and furnished — all within 
a period of eleven months. 

The most prominent building on the west side of the 
square is the Hotel Astor, situated on the old Eden 
farm and belonging to the Astor estate. It was opened 
in September, 1904, by William Muschenheim, formerly 
steward, or commissary, at West Point, who had for 
several years previous run a restaurant, very popular 
with college and similar societies, called "The Arena," 
in West Thirty-second Street near Broadway. Mr. 
Muschenheim has one of the finest private collections 
of maps, documents, papers, and prints relating to old 
New York to be found in the city, and many of these 
are exposed on the walls of the hotel. The hotel is prob- 
ably the most popular and moderate priced of the 
really first-class hotels in New York. It has sheltered 
many ambassadors, special embassies, and distinguished 
foreigners, and is the favorite banqueting place of 
many societies, including some composed entirely of 
women. 

On the streets opening out of Times Square, and 
within a radius of half a mile, are numerous theatres 
erected within the past five years. Among those on 
Broadway itself, are the Globe, above Forty-sixth 
Street, the Astor, at the comer of Forty-fifth Street, 
and the Gaiety, at the corner of Forty-sixth — all on 
the west side; Cohan's, on the east side between Forty- 
second and Forty-third streets, and still others are pro- 
jected for the immediate future. To be bromidic: "It 's 
hard work to keep track of them; they spring up like 
mushrooms, almost in a single night." 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 271 

With so many theatrical enterprises located on 
Broadway, it is natural that plays should be written 
about the great thoroughfare. Two of them — comedies, 
of course — are The Man Who Owns Broadway, and 




THE NEW BROADWAY TABERNACLE 



Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway. Numerous songs 
have sounded the glory of the street and have become 
popular. When the American fleet on its world en- 
circling cruise of 1908-9 left New Zealand, the farewell 
song of our English cousins of the Antipodes was Give 
7ny Regards to Broadway, a song that stirred the heart 



2']2 The World's Greatest Street 

of every American sailor, as he remembered, or antici- 
pated, the joys of the great highway. 

The triangular block at Forty-seventh Street, Broad- 
way, and Seventh Avenue, now occupied by Floyd & Co., 
auctioneers, was formerly the site of St. Martin's Hall, 
inaugurated February ii, 1850, for lectures, assemblies, 
and other social affairs for the up-town folks. The plot 
cannot long remain in its present condition, and a theatre 
or hotel will some day soon occupy the site. Above Forty- 
seventh Street, the thoroughfare is in a transition state; 
there are carriage factories and showrooms, automobile 
ware rooms, apartment houses, hotels, vacant lots, and 
some of the old buildings, including several cottages of 
the days when this was a country road. The site at 
Numbers 1634-1642, on the old Hopper farm, was 
occupied by the American Horse Exchange until 1910, 
when the Winter Garden Theatre was erected by the 
Shuberts. The Exchange was from 1883 the up-town 
Tattersall's where horses of the best breeds, carriages, 
and harness were sold, usually at auction. At the 
northeast corner of Fifty-sixth Street is the modern 
Tabernacle, first opened for service in March, 1905, and 
the legitimate successor of the other two which have 
stood on Broadway; it is a very ornate building, the 
corner-stone of which was laid in 1903. x\t Number 1684, 
the Metropolitan Roller Skating Rink has been in opera- 
tion since 1906. The building which it occupies has been 
an armory of one of the city batteries, a bicycle academy, 
and various other things during the past thirty years. 

At the northwest corner of Forty-ninth Street, the Old 
Guard had its armory from 1898 to 1908. This is not 
a part of the regular military force of the State, but it 
has peculiar privileges, and is usually detailed as an 
escort for any distinguished person who reviews parades 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 273 

or processions. From a social standpoint, it ranks 
higher, possibly, than any other military organization 
in the city, and it partakes more nearly of the nature 
of a social club than do the regular regiments. The vast 
majority of the rank and file of the national guard organ- 
izations are young men, while those in the Old Guard 
have passed the meridian of life, having seen active and 




From Valentine's Manual, 1S64 

THE OLD HALFWAY HOUSE AT THE JUNCTION OF BROADWAY, EIGHTH 
AVENUE, AND FIFTY-NINTH STREET 



strenuous service elsewhere. The City Guard was 
formed in 1833, and at the same time a rival organiza- 
tion, called the Light Guard, was formed out of the old 
Blues, dating from 1762. After the Civil War, the sur- 
vivors of the two organizations united to form the Old 
Guard on April 22, 1868. The distinctive white uniform 
and great bearskin hat always attract attention, and the 
veterans are held very high in popular estimation. 



274 The World's Greatest Street 

At Fifty-ninth Street is the entrance to Central 
Park, and where Broadway, Eighth Avenue, and Fifty- 
ninth Street cross is an open space called "The Circle." 
Its centre is occupied by a fine column and base called 
the Columbus Statue, presented to the city by the Italian 
residents in 1892 in commemoration of the four hundredth 
anniversary of the discovery of America by their fellow- 
countryman, whose statue surmounts the column. 

Just north of the monument is a triangular plot, 
which for many years was occupied by Durland's Riding 
Academy, a very popular place of its kind in the nineties. 
The plot is now vacant and is awaiting development 
by William R. Hearst. Here is another theatrical centre 
within a few blocks, and nearly all the buildings have 
been erected within the past five years. There is the 
Majestic at Fifty-eighth Street, the Circle at Sixtieth, 
the Colonial at Sixty-second, and the Lincoln Square at 
Sixty-sixth. The houses are generally devoted to vaude- 
ville, light opera, moving pictures, and similar entertain- 
ments that do not call for anything from their audiences 
except laughter. 

With the section of the Bloomingdale Road above 
Fifty-ninth Street I was somewhat familiar in my boy- 
hood before 1870, as I used to visit friends who lived 
here, and I have also ridden in the old stages. Near-by 
was the residence of Fernando Wood at Seventy-seventh 
Street. In recent years, the name of Lincoln Square 
has been given to this immediate locality where Broadway 
crosses Columbus Avenue at Sixty-sixth Street. 

The Western Boulevard, or simply the Boulevard, as 
it was commonly called, was the work of the Tweed 
ring; and the highway was opened in 1868. The assess- 
ments levied upon the property owners contiguous to 
the old Bloomingdale Road were more than many of them 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 275 

could pay, and they either lost their property or it became 




THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT AT FIFTY-NINTH STREET 

heavily encumbered. Like all the work of the ring, 
the construction was a gigantic steal; but Tweed cer- 



276 The World's Greatest Street 

tainl}^ showed great foresight in laying out this fine 
thoroughfare, Hned with trees whose price to the tax- 
payers was enormous. The new Boulevard followed the 
general direction and l^ed of the old road, though it did 
not follow all its windings. As most of the farm lands 
and estates abutted on the Bloomingdale Road, we 
find that many of them will be found on both sides of the 
modern thoroughfare. The new thoroughfare was known 
as the Boulevard until January first, 1899, when the 
board of aldermen changed its name to Broadway 
throughout its length to Kingsbridge. 

As the downfall of the ring occurred shortly after the 
opening of the Boulevard, it was left for many years in 
an unpaved state, and was, in consequence, a mudhole in 
wet weather where vehicles frequently became stalled, 
and in dry weather the dust was terrific. I remember 
seeing the Twenty-second Regiment march to its new 
armory in 1891, and one could hardly see the soldiers 
for the clouds of dust. 

The first paving of the street was ordered from Fifty- 
ninth to Seventy -ninth streets in 1890; and all kinds 
of materials have been used — macadam, asphalt, and 
brick. The paving was done in sections as the needs of 
the rapidly building locality required, the last being 
completed in 1907. When the section as far as One 
Hundred and Sixth Street was finished in 1896, the street 
became the favorite route of the wheelmen, who turned 
through the last named street to Riverside Drive and 
so on to Grant's Tomb. It is now a finely paved, 
asphalt brick pavement, and is a much patronized route 
for automobiles. 

The armory of the Twenty-second Regiment of 
Engineers of the National Guard is on the east side of 
Broadway, between Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Streets. 



'^k 




Y- 



A^t 




n 



w imir'r ■ 

1 rS»<^^— ' - 



278 The World's Greatest Street 

The regiment was organized in April, 1861, at the out- 
break of the Civil War and had its quarters at Seventh 
Street and Hall Place; it occupied its armory in Four- 
teenth Street near Sixth Avenue in 1864. I remember 
that we school children went there to see the great fair 
of the Sanitary Commission, which did so much to relieve 
the sufferings of the sick and wounded soldiers. The 
present armory was occupied in 1891. The regiment 
was mustered into the service of the national government 
during the Spanish War, and became an engineer regiment 
on February 20, 1902. A new armory, the corner-stone 
of which was laid December 19, 1909, is now in course 
of construction on Fort Washington Avenue at One 
Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street at a cost of about a 
million of dollars; and the members of the regiment 
hope to occupy it in the spring of 19 12. 

The construction of the elevated roads in 1880, 
and the running of the surface cars made the section 
west of Central Park more easily accessible than in the 
days of the stages, and building operations began. Pre- 
vious to 1880 and even for some time after that date 
the vacant lots were occupied by squatters, whose ram- 
shackle structures, goats, and multitudinous children 
added what we may now consider as a picturesque touch 
to the scene, but which at that time we thought a blot 
upon the landscape. Some of the children of these 
squatters have become rich through the increase in value 
of the lots which their fathers had the foresight, or good 
luck, to buy in those early days. About 1890, the 
bicycle was in its glory ; and for nearly a decade the smooth 
asphalt of the Boulevard attracted the devotees of the 
wheel, the favorite ride being as far as Claremont and 
Grant's Tomb. The annual parades of the wheelmen 
were beautiful sights, especially at night, when countless 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 279 

lights flickered along the roadway as the silent vehicles 
speeded swiftly along. Many shops and buildings were 
erected to accommodate the wheelmen and their needs; 
and there is no doubt that the desirability of this locality 
as a residence section was thus brought to the attention 
of many thousands and helped in its development. Now, 
alas! the wheel has departed; and where once bicycle 
shops abounded, we find their places taken by many more 
shops and garages for the sale and repair of the automo- 
bile. Where, in the nineties, the bicyclist had constant 
views of open spaces and truck gardens, now the autoist, 
as he dashes madly along, sees solid blocks of great 
hotels and apartment houses, with private houses only 
on the side streets. 

The subway railroad is directly responsible for this; 
and as it belongs to this period of Broadway's develop- 
ment subsequent to 1895, a brief account of it may be 
given here. The idea of an underground railway was of 
old date; and I remember when a schoolboy in 1870, 
visiting the Beach Pneumatic Railway under Broadway 
abreast of the City Hall Park, where its tunnel still exists. 
It was in 1890 that the first rapid transit commission 
was appointed by Mayor Hugh J. Grant; it reported in 
1 89 1 that the tunnel franchise should be sold to the 
highest bidder, but capitalists were afraid to back the 
scheme on account of its uncertainty and the vast amount 
of capital involved. In 1894, the legislature created 
the Rapid Transit Board, which, fortunately, was com- 
posed of men of unimpeachable integrity and enterprise 
with no interest or concern in politics, and they went at 
the matter in a business-like way. The plans for the 
tunnel, drawn by the engineer, William Barclay Parsons, 
were approved by Mayor Strong in 1897; ^^^ the con- 
gested condition of the traffic lines due to the influx of 



28o The World's Greatest Street 

visitors on Grant's Day, April 27, of that year, showed 
the absolute necessity of immediate relief. The con- 
tracts were let to John B. McDonald on February 21, 
1900, and work was begun shortly afterwards, four and 
one half years being the time allowed for the completion 
of the work and the running of the trains. The section 
of the road under Broadway begins at Forty-second 
Street and continues to One Hundred and Sixty-eighth 
Street, rejoining Broadway again at Two Hundred and 
Eighteenth Street and continuing over it as an elevated 
structure to the terminus at Two Hundred and Forty- 
second Street abreast of Van Cortlandt Park. The road 
is four tracks as far as One Hundred and Third Street 
and two tracks beyond. 

During the nearly five years that the underground 
was building, Broadway was a sight to be remembered, 
as the work was done from the surface and the street 
and the car tracks had to be supported by temporary 
bridges of planks; and it was no unusual thing for a 
vehicle to fall into the excavation. As a result of this 
excavation, the trees planted by the Tweed ring, which 
had by this time begun to beautify the thoroughfare, 
were badly injured, and in many cases destroyed com- 
pletely. In May, 1910, the central plots of the street 
were fenced in, sodded, and set out with plants and 
shrubs. In the Washington Heights section the cut 
was so deep that the work was done entirely below the 
surface by regular subterranean miners brought from 
the mining places of the world, and the surface was 
undisturbed. 

The subway was officially opened to the public from 
Brooklyn Bridge to Broadway and One Hundred and 
Forty-fifth Street on October 27, 1904; to One Hundred 
and Fifty-seventh Street, November 12, 1904; to Two 





28 1 



282 The World's Greatest Street 

Hundred and Twenty-first Street, March 12, 1906; to 
Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, January 14, 1907; 
to Two Hundred and Thirtieth Street, January 27, 1907; 
and to Two Hundred and Forty-second Street, its present 
northern terminus at Van Cortlandt Park, August i, 
1908. At its lower end, it was opened to Fulton Street, 
January 16, 1905; to Wall Street, June 12, 1905; and to 
the Bowling Green and the South Ferry, July 10, 1905. 
In the Washington Heights section, some of the stations 
are so deep that elevators carry the passengers to and 
from the surface. 

So immensely popular has the subway become since 
its opening that it is greatly overcrowded, and other 
lines and extensions are projected. There are many 
thousands of New Yorkers who see and know nothing 
of their city except in the neighborhood of their homes 
and places of business, between which they travel on 
the underground. I saw a skit in the newspaper a short 
time ago, which told of a business man who took an 
afternoon off from business and rode home on a surface 
car for the purpose of seeing what New York looked like 
and what changes had taken place while he had been 
riding underground for five years or more. He was 
astonished at the changes, and said he felt like repeating 
the experiment occasionally in order to get acquainted 
with his own city. 

In colonial days, many of the wealthy merchants had 
country-seats near the bank of the Hudson. Some of 
these gentlemen were loyalists during the Revolution 
and, in consequence, lost their property by confisca- 
tion; among the owners we recognize many Dutch and 
Huguenot names. The principal owners as far north 
as Ninety-sixth Street were John H. Tallman, Bogert, 
G. Kimberly, John Gottsberger, John Hardenbrook, 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 283 

Jacob Harsen, Sarah McGill, Stephen Jumel, Jacob 
Lorillard, Richard Somerindyke, John C. Vandenheuvel, 
John McVickers, Brockholst Livingston, James Hamilton, 
and David M. Clarkson. 

There is one name among the owners of property 
here that was still more famous in colonial days, but 
which we do not find after the Revolution — that of 
Oliver De Lancey. He was a loyalist during that struggle 
and was made a brigadier, commanding a brigade of 
loyalists and refugees, recruited principally from the 
Tories of New York, Westchester, and Dutchess Counties, 
and from Connecticut, New Jersey, and Long Island. 
His house, a fine colonial mansion, faced the Blooming- 
dale Road near Seventieth Street; and in it De Lancey 
extended a generous hospitality to the best society of 
the province. 

During 1776 and 1777, the British, and especially 
the loyalist battalions, overran the surrounding country 
on all sides of New York and perpetrated many outrages. 
In November of the latter year a party of Americans, 
intent on retaliation for the outrages inflicted on their 
fellow-countrymen, rowed down the river and surprised 
and captured the guard stationed at the landing near 
De Lancey 's. They then pushed on to the house which, 
besides the servants, was occupied at the time by 
Madam De Lancey, her daughters, Mrs. Cruger and 
Miss Charlotte, and a visitor. Miss Elizabeth Floyd of 
Long Island. The young ladies were about sixteen years 
of age. According to Judge Jones, the Tory historian of 
the Revolution, the Americans treated the ladies with 
insult and brutality, even attempting to abduct Miss 
Floyd, who managed to escape from their grasp. The 
ladies fled from the house in their night clothes, and 
the mansion was looted and fired. Madam De Lancey 



284 



The World's Greatest Street 



concealed herself under a i^orch until the intruders had 
retired. Madam Cruger fled through the night and was 
lost; at dayHght she found herself seven miles from the 
house and was obliged to seek shelter in a farmhouse. 
The two young girls, shoeless and stockingless, fled across 
the fields and found refuge in a swamp, where they stood 
in the icy water up to their knees until daylight, when 
they sought the Apthorpe house and were taken in 




From Valentine's Manual, 1863 

THE SOMERINDYKE ESTATE ON BLOOMINGDALE ROAD, NEAR 
SEVENTY-FIFTH STREET 



and cared for. The fine mansion was completely de- 
stroyed, but was not rebuilt, as the De Lancey property 
was confiscated by the State under the laws against the 
loyalists. 

The following advertisement of May 8, 1732, taken 
from the city's oldest paper, the New York Gazette, will 
show how different this section was at that time from 
what it is to-day, with its enormous apartment houses 
and hotels. 








P^ 



285 



286 The World's Greatest Street 

In the out ward cf the City of New York near to the seat 
of Mr. De Lancey called Bloomendal, there is to be Sold a 
Plantation with a very good Stone House, Barn and Orchard, 
containing about four or five Hundred Apple Trees, and a 
Pair Orchard, w4th a great many fine Grafted Pairs, [sic] 
The Land is very well Timber'd and Watered: It has a very 
fine Brook very convenient for a Fish Pond, containing about 
Two Hundred and Sixty Acres of Land and six Acres of 
Meadow, situate, lying and being near Bloomendal as afore- 
said. Whoever incline to purchase the same may apply to 
Thomas De Key, now living on the Premises, and agree on 
reasonable Terms. 

The Apthorpe House stood until 1892 on the block 
between Ninetieth and Ninety-first Streets and Columbus 
and Amsterdam Avenues in the centre of a farm which 
originally consisted of two hundred acres. It was built 
about 1765 and was a fine mansion with columns in 
front. The gentleman who built the house was Charles 
Ward Apthorpe, a wealthy lawyer of New York, who, 
though a personal friend of Washington, was a loyalist 
of a mild type. In consequence, he lost his estates in 
Massachusetts, but his New York property was untouched 
as he died in the old mansion in 1797. It came into the 
possession of Brockholst Livingston, and later into that 
of Colonel Thorne, who had married Miss Jauncey, 
whose family were great landowners in this vicinity, and 
it continued to be the scene of social events for half a 
century longer, when it became a public house and picnic 
ground under the name of Elm, or Wendell Park, During 
the Civil War, the extensive property was used for en- 
camping and drilling recruits before sending them to 
the front. 

The Protestants from the north of Ireland, commonly 
called Orangemen, held a picnic in Elm Park on the 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 287 

anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, July 12, 1870. 
As they marched up the Boulevard, then in course of 
construction, some of the airs played by their bands 
aroused the ire of the Catholic Irish laborers upon the 
street, who began to stone the procession. A small- 
sized riot ensued, in which shots were exchanged and 
three persons were killed and several wounded, some of 
whom died afterward. The Orangemen announced their 
intention of parading in 1871, and the Catholic Irish 
threatened to break up the celebration. The parade 
was prohibited by the chief of police the day before which 
it was to occur. Upon this becoming known, several 
of the public business and commercial bodies held indig- 
nation meetings and asked: "If the Irish Catholics are 
permitted to parade unmolested on St. Patrick's Day, 
why have not the Protestant Irish an equal right to do 
the same thing under police protection?" Governor 
Hoffman was telegraphed for; and after consultation 
with leading citizens, revoked the police order prohibiting 
the parade and ordered out the militia to protect the 
paraders. 

In view of possible disorder, all of the Orange lodges, 
with one exception, gave up the idea of a parade and 
sought various picnic grounds outside the city. Escorted 
by five regiments, Gideon Lodge, with less than one hun- 
dred men, started on the designated line of march for 
Elm Park. The streets were filled with spectators, and 
there was no disturbance until the procession reached 
Eighth Avenue between Twenty-fourth and Twenty- 
fifth streets; then a shot was fired and a storm of stones 
and missiles was hurled at the procession from the neigh- 
boring house tops. Two of the regiments fired volleys 
without authorization, and, as a result, fifty-four spec- 
tators were killed or mortally wounded, while many 



288 The World^s Greatest Street 

others received injuries. As is usual in such cases, among 
those hurt or killed were many innocent lookers-on. 
Three of the soldiers of the Ninth Regiment were killed, 
and many others received injuries from stones and brick- 
bats. The marks of the bullets are still discernible upon 
some of the houses in Eighth Avenue. These two affairs 
of 1870 and 1 87 1 are known in the history of the city as 
the "Orange Riots." 

The Apthorpe house is also connected with the 
greatest name in American history. After the fiasco 
at Kip's Bay and the escape of Putnam's division on 
the fifteenth of September, 1776, Washington took up 
his quarters in the mansion. Preparations were made 
for supper, when the approach of the British was 
announced and the Americans made a precipitate 
retreat, leaving their meal to be eaten by Howe and 
his staff, who made the house their headquarters for 
several days. 

The Dutch, with fervent patriotism, having named 
the city at the lower end of the island New Amsterdam, 
proceeded to name places in the vicinity of New Amster- 
dam after home places of which they were reminded in 
this new land. Thus, a beautiful village near old Harlem 
called Bloemendaal and famous for its horticultural 
nurseries gave its name to this section not far removed 
from the New Harlem on the island of Manhattan; and 
it is only a step from Bloemendaal to Bloomingdale. 
Owing to the large estate of Jacob Harsen between 
Sixty-sixth and Seventy-second streets, it was also 
called Harsenville. Harsen's Lane led from within 
the present Central Park from Sixth Avenue, west- 
ward between Seventieth and Seventy-first streets to 
Columbus Avenue, and thence to the Bloomingdale 
Road half a block south of Seventy-second Street. 














Drawn by Eliza Greatorex 

THE CHURCH AT BLOOMINGDALE 



289 



290 The World's Greatest Street 

Harsen's House was at Seventieth Street and the 
Bloomingdale Road,* 

The Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church at SLxty- 
eighth Street and Broadway is the successor of the 
original church established near the same site in 1805. 
It probably owed its birth to the prevalence of yellow 
fever in the city and the desire of those who fled to this 
locality to have church services. In 18 13, Andrew 
Hopper, of whom we have already spoken, was married 
here a second time. Some generous elder of the church 
society gave to it a large plot of ground for a parsonage, 
and its increment in value saved the church from ex- 
tinction. When the Boulevard was opened, the old 
church edifice was in its path and had to be removed; 
but the immense value to which the parsonage lot attained 
enabled the church society to erect the present beautiful 
structure. 

Rutgers Riverside Presbyterian Church is at Seventy- 
third Street. It was first organized in 1796 under the 
name of Rutgers Presbyterian Church and had its origin 
in the desire of expansion on the part of the New York 
Presbytery after the recovery of the city by the Americans 
from the British. A lot was donated by Henry Rutgers 
of the Reformed, or Dutch Church upon his property 
at the corner of Rutgers and Henry streets; and a frame 
edifice was built and opened on May 13, 1798. By 1841, 
the congregation had so increased that a stone church 
was built upon the same site; twenty years later, the 
neighborhood had so changed and the congregation had 
grown so small that the property passed to St. Teresa's 

* It must be remembered that these streets'did not exist, even on paper, 
until the acceptance of Randall's map of 1821 by the commission of 1807; 
and that the actual cutting through of streets above Fifty-ninth, except 
in some few cases, did not begin until after i860. 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 291 

Roman Catholic Church, which still occupies the same 
site. Rutgers formed a union with the Madison Avenue 
Church of that time at the corner of Madison Avenue 
and Twenty-ninth Street, which had been opened for 
public worship in 1844. In 1875, a new and larger 
structure was erected; but by 1881 the same conditions 
of change in population were met as in Henry Street, 
and the church was closed, to reopen six months later 
for a period of three years during which the church lost 
steadily. At the end of 1884, it was determined to close 
the historic church and dissolve the society, but another 
attempt to revive it was made in 1886, At the end of 
two years, it was seen that this effort also was fruitless, 
and it was determined to build west of Central Park. 
The church on Madison Avenue was sold to the Masons 
of the Ancient Scottish Rite; and the new chapel at the 
Boulevard and Seventy-third Street, under the name 
of Rutgers Riverside, was opened September 23, 1888, 
to be followed later by the present fine edifice, which was 
opened January 19, 1890. 

Christ Protestant Episcopal Church is also an his- 
toric church. It was organized in 1793 and was first 
placed on a site on Ann Street, which it vacated in 1823 
to occupy a newly consecrated edifice in Anthony Street 
which had formerly been occupied by a theatre. The 
building in Ann Street was sold in 1827 to the Roman 
Catholics, then poor in wealth and population, and was 
long used by them as a church. The church in Anthony 
Street was completely destroyed by fire, July 30, 1847, 
but it was rebuilt and reoccupied until 1854, when the 
society moved to West Eighteenth Street, remaining 
there until 1859, when a new church was erected at 
Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street. When this last 
edifice was burned in 1891, the society moved to its 



292 The World's Greatest Street 

present location on the Boulevard. The original Ann 
Street structure was destroyed by fire in 1834. 

The other churches in this vicinity south of Ninety- 
sixth Street are all of more recent organization. They 
are: Manhattan Congregational at Seventy-sixth Street, 
organized 1896; Roman Catholic Church of the Blessed 
Sacrament at the southeast corner of Seventy-first 
Street, organized 1887; the First Baptist Church at the 
northwest corner of Seventy -ninth Street, organized in 
1891 ; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church at the north- 
east comer of Ninety -fourth Street, organized 1897. 

Wherever Broadway crosses one of the avenues of the 
island, we find at the crossing, or near it, an open space 
of a block or more to which the name of "park," or 
"square" is given, and that the cross street is usually 
broader than those above or below it. This is the 
case at Fourteenth, Twenty-third, Thirty-fourth, Forty- 
second, Fifty-ninth, Sixty-sixth, and Seventy-second 
Streets, where Broadway crosses University Place, 
Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth (or Columbus), Tenth (or 
Amsterdam) Avenues respectively. To the space from 
Seventieth to Seventy- third Street, at the last-named 
crossing, has been given the name of Sherman Square 
in honor of the great general. In the triangular plot 
at the upper end of Sherman Square is a marble statue 
of Guiseppe Verdi, the great Italian composer. On the 
base of the pedestal are several marble figures representing 
some of the principal characters from his operas. The 
monument was built by subscriptions obtained from 
Italian residents, principally through the efforts of one 
of the Italian papers of the city, and was unveiled on 
October 2, 1906. 

As late as 1893, there stood on a height of rock on 
the south side of Eighty -fourth Street east of the Boule- 




293 



294 The World's Greatest Street 

vard, where the cutting through of the street had left 
it, an old colonial house, once the residence of Edgar 
Allan Poe, in which he wrote The Raven. Poe's wife 
Virginia was in poor health and the couple came here in 
1844 and boarded with Mrs. Brennan in order that Mrs. 
Poe could get the pure, fresh air. In the olden time, 
before the surrounding land had been covered with 
modem dwellings, the house commanded a magnificent 
view both up and down the Hudson. 

Another famous mansion was a stone house standing 
at Seventy-ninth Street, between Broadway and West 
End Avenue. This was built about 1759 by John C. 
Vandenheuvel, a Dutch governor of Demerara, who came 
to New York to escape the fever and liked it so well here 
that he bought four hundred acres of land in this vicinity 
and built his country house upon it. The Vandenheuvel 
town-house was opposite the City Hall Park, between 
Barclay Street and Park Place. The property was 
vacated during the Revolution, and was sold by the 
Vandenheuvel heirs in 1827 to Harmon Hendricks, who 
leased it in 1833 to Burnham at a yearly rental of six 
hundred dollars. Burnham' s, near Seventy-fourth Street 
and the Bloomingdale Road, was the most famous road- 
house in this section from before 1820 until the proprietor 
opened the still more famous Mansion House in the old 
Vandenheuvel dwelling. After Bumham's occupancy, 
the property passed into the possession of a Frenchman 
named Poillon, who sold it in 1878 to the Astor estate. 
The old house stood until the spring of 1905, when it was 
demolished to make room for the enormous apartment 
house and hotel called the Apthorpe, which occupies the 
whole block in the middle of which the old house used 
to stand. 

The Somerindyke house, at Seventy-fourth Street 



From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 295 

and the Bloomingdale Road, was an interesting place, 
because here, so it has been frequently stated, Louis 
Philippe, afterwards king of the French, and his brothers 
taught school while in exile. Later authorities proclaim 
the story a myth, as the three noblemen while in this 
country drew upon the purse of their friend, Gouverneur 
Morris, for their expenses. When they returned to 
France and fortune, they forgot their generous American 
friend until he reminded them of the debt. Then they 
repaid, but treated the loan as a business transaction 
entirely. This aroused the ire of the old aristocrat, 
who could be as sarcastic in his old age as in his earlier 
days; and since they ignored the element of friendship 
which had entered into the loan, he demanded the interest 
and entered suit against them, and his heirs eventually 
received the money. 

In 1 83 1, a Mr. Foley rented an open space near the 
Bloomingdale Road and furnished pigeons for trap 
shooting. The sport was a favorite one, as two other 
similar places were opened by Batterson and Burnham 
within a short time later. All of these road-houses, as 
well as the Abbey, Woodlawn, and Claremont, were 
formerly the coimtry-seats of well-known families. Of 
these, Claremont, belonging to the Post family in old 
days, and situated above Grant's Tomb, is the only one 
remaining, though there is a later Abbey on the heights 
of Fort Tryon, below Inwood. 

Occupying the entire block from Eighty-sixth to 
Eighty-seventh Street, and from Broadway to Amster- 
dam Avenue, is the apartment house called the Belnord. 
It contains one hundred and seventy-six apartments, 
with from seven to eleven rooms each, and a correspond- 
ing number of bath-rooms. It is said to be the 
largest apartment house in the world, and contains 



296 The World's Greatest Street 

a population of upwards of a thousand. It was opened 
in 1909. 

The names of some of these old places have a meaning ; 
but the same cannot be said of many of the new. We 
are supposed to be a democratic people — at least wc are 
always claiming it — yet we have our Marlborough, 
Buckingham, Royal, Marie Antoinette, Imperial, Em- 




From Valentine's Manual, 1864 

THE OLD ABBEY HOTEL ON BLOOMINGDALE ROAD, 1 847 

pire. Princess, and similar named hotels and theatres. 
Why not use some of the old Dutch, Knickerbocker, 
or Indian names? They are distinctive and their use 
would show that we have some historic interest in our 
own city. Just as a century ago, an American literature 
was established by Irving, Cooper, and others, so in these 
days we need some builders to act as pioneers for a new 
hotel and theatre nomenclature — a nomenclature that 
would mean something. 



CHAPTER XII 

FROM NINETY-SIXTH STREET TO ONE HUNDRED AND 
SIXTY-EIGHTH STREET 




T Eighty-fifth Street, the old Bloom- 
ingdale Road wound to the east- 
ward, returning to the line of the 
Boulevard at about Ninety-seventh 
Street. At One Hundred and 
Eleventh Street, it curved to the 
westward becoming in later days 
Riverside Avenue abreast of the 
park of that name, and did not return to the Boule- 
vard again until One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Street 
was reached. Here it curved up the hill, finally turning 
to the northward and eastward and joining itself with the 
Kingsbridge Road from Harlem (the Boston Post-road, 
Harlem Lane, or St. Nicholas Avenue) near One Hundred 
and Forty-seventh Street. At One Hundred and Eleventh 
Street, Broadway changes from its diagonal course and 
continues straight up Eleventh Avenue to One Hundred 
and Sixty-eighth Street, where it merges itself in the 
Kingsbridge Road, which assumes the name of Broadway 
to the end of the island. 

As early as October 23, 17 13, there was passed: "An 
Act for Mending and keeping in Repair the Post-Road 

297 



298 The World's Greatest Street 

from New York to Kings-Bridge," by which act, on 
account of the bad condition of the road, it was divided 
into sections to be kept in order by the different city 
wards through which it passed. This act also said that 
the roads were to be cleaned up and maintained by the 
''Inhabitants of All Towns, Mannors and Precincts by 
and through whose lands any Common publick Roads or 
highways have or shall run." There were supplemental 
acts in 1721, 1723, 1728, 1736, and every few years later. 
By an act of September 30, 1874, the Kingsbridge Road 
was to be opened, widened, and straightened from One 
Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street to the Harlem River; but 
it remained unpaved and badly lighted for many years 
afterward. From One Hundred and Eleventh Street 
northward we have, therefore, two roads to consider, 
the old Bloomingdale Road and the modern Broadway. 

We have already carried the property owners as far 
north as Ninety-sixth Street. Above that point to 
Manhattan Street the principal owners were David M. 
Clarkson, James Stryker (Stryker Bay farm), Ann Rogers, 
John Jacob Astor, William Hayward, Gordon S. Mumford, 
James De Peyster, Nicholas De Peyster, New York 
Hospital (Bloomingdale Asylum), Henriques, Marx, 
Courtenay, and Thomas Buckley. In the old Dutch 
days, the land between Ninetieth and One Hundred and 
Seventh Streets, Eighth Avenue, and the Hudson, was 
granted by Stuyvesant to Teunis Ide ; so that the property 
belonging to owners on the above list as far down as 
William Hayward was originally on the Ide tract. 

Following the old road toward the river, we find that 
it is the eastern boundary of Riverside Park for some 
distance. Abreast of One Hundred and Twenty-third 
Street is the restaurant called Claremont, which com- 
mands a superb view of the river. It was erected a little 




299 



300 The World's Greatest Street 

over a century ago by Dr. Post and long remained in his 
family. Previous to 1812, it was occupied by Lord 
Courtenay, whose name appears in the list of owners 
above as having property below and contiguous to 
One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Street. Courtenay, who 
afterwards became Earl of Devon, came to this country, 
so it was supposed, on account of political or social 
troubles in England. One writer describes him as living 
as a recluse with one man servant ; another, as being of a 
handsome and winning personality and dispensing a 
charming hospitality. However that may be, when the 
second war with England occurred, he went back to 
England and did not return to this country, his plate and 
furniture being sold at public auction. Another tenant of 
the mansion for some time was Joseph Bonaparte, ex- 
king of Spain, who resided here after the downfall of his 
famous brother. For over fifty years the mansion has 
been a favorite road-house and restaurant. 

A few rods south of Claremont is the mausoleum 
erected by the people of the nation to contain the remains 
of the great commander of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant. 
His wife lies beside him. His funeral occurred August 
8, 1885, and was the most imposing one ever seen in this 
city. The body was placed temporarily in a small, brick 
vault adjacent to the tomb, work upon which was begun 
upon his birthday, April 27, 1891. It was dedicated 
April 27, 1897, upon which occasion there was an imposing 
military and civic parade which attracted to the city 
hundreds of thousands of strangers. The day was one 
of great discomfort and suffering to the spectators along 
Riverside Drive, as it was cold, and a strong gale pre- 
vailed which swept up the river without hindrance. 
During the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary 
of the discovery of the Hudson and of the one hundredth 




Ittp'^^ 




301 



302 The World's Greatest Street 

of steamboat navigation under Fulton, in the fall of 1909, 
the ships of the different navies that participated were 
strung along the river for miles. The naval parade and 
illumination were witnessed by half a million people, who 
blackened the slopes of the park in the vicinity of the 
tomb so that the lawns were obscured. 

Returning to the present Broadway, we find to the 
east of the thoroughfare at One Hundred and Tenth 
Street, also called Cathedral Parkway, the Protestant 
Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which has 
been in course of construction for over a quarter of a 
century upon the site of the Leake and Watts Orphan 
Asylum, which was established in 1831. The corner- 
stone of the cathedral was laid September 27, 1892. 
On the blocks north of it are St. Luke's Hospital and 
Home for the Aged. 

The blocks above One Hundred and Sixteenth 
Street on the east side were occupied from 182 1 to 
1894 by the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, which had 
moved in the former year from the grounds of the 
New York Hospital at Thomas Street, and which 
moved in the latter year to White Plains in Westchester 
County. 

In 1892, the asylum property was secured by Columbia 
College, which moved to this site upon the vacation of 
the property by the asylum. In 1896 the college, the an- 
cient "King's," became a university. Adjoining Colum- 
bia on the west side of Broadway is Barnard College 
for the education of women ; and on the north is Teachers 
College, the professional branch of the university for the 
training of teachers. Though both are separate corpora- 
tions, they are closely affiliated with Columbia. Teachers 
College located here in the fall of 1894, ^^'^ Barnard in 
the fall of 1897. In One Hundred and Twentieth Street, 




303 



304 



The World's Greatest Street 



adjoining Teachers College is the famous Horace Mann 
School, a private institution. 



wmm- 








^ ^1^ v^^'Xvi 



-.^.^^^ v>^ 




!*ftWBr- 




TABLET IN WALL OF EXGiNEERlNG BUILDING, COLUMBL\ UNIVERSITY 



The university and college buildings, constructed in 
the best styles of modern architecture, constitute an im- 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 305 

posing group upon the plateau of Morningside Heights. 
The hbrary building, containing in the neighborhood of 
450,000 volumes, is probably the most notable. It is a 
gift to the university from its former president, the Hon. 
Seth Low, as a memorial to his father, an old New York 
merchant. One of its striking features is its great dome, 
which has been copied in a smaller degree in the con- 
struction of Earl Hall on the west of the library building. 
One of the professors who was abroad during the con- 
struction of the Hall, was asked on his return how he liked 
it. He scrutinized the new building and then let his gaze 
wander over the dome of the library. "It looks to me," 
he said dryly, "as if the library had laid an egg'' Upon 
the Broadway side of the west hall, is a bronze tablet 
commemorative of the Battle of Harlem Heights and the 
death of Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton. 

As the tablet indicates, we are upon historic ground. 
From One Hundred and Tenth Street north to Manhattan 
Street, the ground is quite elevated and was called, from 
early days, Harlem Heights, though now known, from the 
public park contiguous to the plateau, as Morningside 
Heights. In the days of Stuyvesant, the property from 
One Hundred and Seventh Street to One Hundred and 
Twenty-fifth Street had been granted to Jacob De Kay, 
though by the time of the Revolution several farms 
occupied the original tract. Manhattan Street, called in 
olden times the "Hollow Way," is a natural valley 
leading down to the river between the high lands lying 
north and south of it, and was from the earliest times of 
the Dutch a road leading down to the ferry to New Jersey. 
On the morning of September sixteenth, 1776, the 
American army was encamped north of the valley, and 
the British to the south of it, Howe's headquarters being 
in the Apthorpe House, and Washington's in the Morris 



3o6 The World's Greatest Street 

House. The Chief was anxious to know the disposition 
of Howe's troops, and it is probable that it was about 
this date that Hale had volunteered to find out and had 
started on his fatal journey. At daybreak on the morn- 
ing of the sixteenth, two detachments of the Rangers 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton and Major Leitch, a 
young Virginian, were started from the Point of Rocks 
on the north side of the Hollow Way for the purpose of 
getting in the rear of the British on Vanderwater's 
Heights (Columbia University grounds). A body of 
Americans was also advanced in a frontal attack; but 
through some error, firing began too soon and the flanking 
bodies were exposed to danger, but managed to return 
safely to the main body. 

One of the buglers with the British troops at "Clare- 
mont" sounded the fox chase, and the Americans took 
up the contemptuous challenge. A body of volunteers 
was sent into the Hollow Way to draw the enemy, while 
Knowlton and Leitch were sent again to fall upon their 
rear. The ruse was successful, and the British rushed 
down the bank to the attack, but were driven back. 
The Rangers instead of falling upon the rear of the enemy 
thus fell upon their flank. In the hot fighting that en- 
sued Knowlton was mortally wounded, dying an hour 
later. He fell, crying: "I do not value my life, if we 
but get the day." Leitch was also badly wounded and 
died from his wounds two weeks later. Both officers 
were buried in what later became Trinity Cemetery. 
Notwithstanding the fall of their leaders, the patriots 
fought with spirit, forcing the British back as far as a 
buckwheat field at about One Hundred and Twentieth 
Street, and from this position back to the one near One 
Hundred and Sixteenth Street, where Knowlton had 
first attacked them early in the morning. Things were 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 307 

going hard with the British, and Howe ordered up 
reinforcements from McGowan's Pass; but Washington 
did not wish to bring on a general engagement, and, 
having shown the British his mettle, withdrew his vic- 
torious troops. 

The battle lasted about two hours and resulted in 
the death of sixteen Americans, the attacking party; 
while the enemy reported fourteen killed and seventy- 
eight wounded. While the so-called battle was little 
more than a large skirmish, it put new heart into the 
Americans. They were unprovided with shoes, clothing, 
blankets, guns and ammunition, they were disheartened 
by the defeat at Long Island and the loss of New York, 
they had been on the run for days, yet here they had 
taken the offensive against several of the crack regi- 
ments of the British army and had routed them; the 
British regular was no longer invincible. 

At the northern end of the park on the Heights are 
remains of fortifications which were erected during the 
War of 1 8 12. These were quite extensive in this region 
and had been constructed to command the westernmost 
entrance to New York from the north: other forts and 
block-houses being erected in the present Central Park to 
command McGowan's pass through which the eastern 
post-road passed. While many of our historic sites and 
buildings have disappeared during the development of 
the city (and most of them from necessity) it is pleas- 
ant to know that the few that remain are being so care- 
fully guarded and marked by the various associations 
which have grown up within the past twenty years. 
May the good work go on ! 

Abreast of the university buildings, the underground 
railway emerges from the subway and is carried across the 
valley of Manhattan Street by means of a viaduct, enter- 



3o8 The World's Greatest Street 

ing the subway again upon the north side at One Hundred 
and Thirty-fifth Street. The village of Manhattanvillc 
formerly occupied this section through the valley as far 
east as Seventh Avenue. I remember when the Eighth 
Avenue horse-car route was extended as far as One 
Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, and we considered we 
were securing wonderful transportation. At One Hundred 
and Twenty-fifth Street, we cross into the ancient town 
of New Harlem, whose southern, or western, boundary 
line extended from the Hudson, just south of the Fort 
Lee Ferry at Manhattan Street, in a straight line diago- 
nally across the island to Seventy-fourth Street and the 
East River ; the other boundaries were the East, Harlem, 
and Hudson Rivers. 

Midway between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, 
and extending from Lawrence Street to One Hundred and 
Thirty-third is a section three blocks long, called "Old 
Broadway." It is a relic of past times and marks the 
ancient bed of the Bloomingdale Road, several fine trees 
still lining its course. Hamilton Place above gives an 
approximate idea of the continuation of the old road to 
its junction with the Kingsbridge Road near One Hundred 
and Forty-eighth Street. Upon Old Broadway at One 
Hundred and Thirty-first Street is the R. C. Church of the 
Annunciation, organized in 1840. At the same location is 
Manhattan College, founded by the Christian Brothers 
in 1853, and constituting one of the leading secular 
educational institutions of the Catholic Church in the 
city. 

In 1899, I moved into the suburbs and did not revisit 
upper Broadway until the spring of 191 o. As a cyclist, I 
was familiar with the appearance of the street and its 
scenes of semi-rural beauty, with occasional mansions 
of the olden time. It did not seem possible that such 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 309 

changes could have been made in eleven years as those 
I saw on my later visit. Of all the old country places 
only one remained, that at the northwest corner of One 
Hundred and Fifth Street ; and it was crowded up against 
the side of a great apartment house with a small plot in 
front of it, still green with grass and shrubbery. It looked 
lost amid such surroundings, but still retained its look 
of quiet dignity among the bricks and mortar that had 
usurped its former extensive grounds. From Manhattan 
Street north to One Hundred and Sixty-eighth, there was 
an almost unbroken line of "flats" on both sides of the 
thoroughfare ; and the side streets, with their heavy pitch 
to the Hudson, were almost equally built up. 

On the west side of the island, and north of the Harlem 
boundary line just mentioned, the lands belonged in 
common to the settlers of New Harlem as secured to them 
by the grond brief of Governor Stuyvesant under date of 
March 4, 1658, afterwards confirmed to them by English 
grants of Nicolls and other proprietary and royal govern- 
ors. The first grants below One Hundred and Seventy- 
fifth Street were made during Kieft's time to Jochim 
Pieters and were known as Jochim Pieters's Hills. These 
are the present Washington Heights, also called in former 
days Carmansville, after David Carman, one of the large 
property owners upon the Heights. During the time of 
Governor Andros, he granted to some of his favorites 
lands claimed by New Harlem; and the Harlem settlers, 
fearing that other common lands would be taken from 
them, petitioned the governor and obtained his consent 
in 1676 to a division of the common lands among them- 
selves in severalty. They began with the Kieft grants, 
and in 1691 and 1712, made further divisions under fear 
that Dongan and Hunter would follow the example of 
Andros and give their lands to outsiders. A considerable 



310 The World's Greatest Street 

farm just north of the boundary and taking in the ferry 
site came into possession of Picter Van Oblinus ; but just 
how he secured possession is not clear, as the tract had 
been common land of the settlers. Perhaps, as he was one 
of the leading magistrates and officers of Harlem, he may 
have managed to secure it by means which we moderns 
call "graft." There were twenty-six lots in this first 
division of the Harlem common lands; and among those 
who drew these we find such names as Tourneur, Vermilye, 
Brevoort, Bussing, Delamater, Waldron, Dyckman, Low, 
Delavall, and Van Oblinus (Pieter and Joost). In the 
agreement concerning the division, we find there was a 
clause securing the maintenance of the Kingsbridge 
Road, the old Indian trail leading to the north end of the 
island. 

Coming down to the early part of the nineteenth 
century, we find the owners of these lands to be James 
Byrd, John Barrow, John Lawrence, Nicholas Delongue- 
mare, Elizabeth Hamilton (the widow of Alexander), 
Samuel Broadhurst, Beekman, Trinity Cemetery, Audubon 
Park, Samuel Watkins, Ebenezer Burnall, Robert 
Dickey, Hannah Murray, Stephen Jumel, Arden Rosannah 
Bowers, Abraham K. Smedes, and Moore. 

Attracted by the salubrity and healthfulness of Wash- 
ington Heights, several charitable societies located among 
the country estates, on or near the old road or upon 
Broadway. The Sheltering Arms, organized in 1864 for 
homeless children between five and twelve years of age 
for whom no other institution provides, is at Amsterdam 
Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty -ninth Street. 
The Hebrew Orphan Society, founded in 1822, is on the 
same avenue at One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Street. 
At Broadway and One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street 
is one of the grandest charities in the city, the Hospital 






/ 




311 



312 The World's Greatest Street 

and Home for Chronic Invalids, commonly called the 
" Montefiore Home." It was founded in 1884 and is 
supported almost entirely by the voluntary subscriptions 
from people of the Jewish faith, as a memorial to the 
famous philanthropist. Sir Moses Montefiore; it is open 
to both sexes without distinction of race or creed. The 
present quarters have been found to be too cramped to 
carry out fully the desires of the trustees, and arrangements 
are already completed to transfer the Home to the Bor- 
ough of The Bronx on the Gunhill Road near Jerome 
Avenue. The new buildings are to cost $1,500,000, and 
will be designed to accommodate six hundred invalids, 
with all modern improvements for their comfort and 
health. The Colored Orphan Asylum, organized in 1837, 
was for many years at Amsterdam Avenue and One Hun- 
dred and Forty-third Street until its removal to Mount St. 
Vincent. At the time of the draft riots of July, 1863, the 
asylum was located at Fifth Avenue between Forty-third 
and Forty-fourth streets. The malice of the rioting 
crowds was directed against every one who showed color, 
whether man, woman, or child, and many negroes were 
hanged from near-by lamp-posts. Inspired by this hatred, 
the mob made an attack upon the asylum and fired the 
buildings, which were consumed; but, fortunately, the 
children were withdrawn safely through a rear entrance. 
With the money obtained as damages from the cit}^ that 
secured from the sale of the Fifth Avenue plot, and that 
subscribed by citizens, many of whom had never heard of 
the institution until the burning of the asylum, the new 
buildings were started on Washington Heights. The 
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb was incorporated 
in 181 7 with De Witt Clinton as first president of the 
society; it is located at One Hundred and Sixty-third 
Street and Fort Washington Avenue. The New York 




313 



314 The World's Greatest Street 

Juvenile Asylum, founded in 181 7 at what is now Madison 
Square, long occupied a portion of the Smedes property 
below One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street until its 
removal to Dobbs Ferry. 

Trinity Church secured the plot of ground between 
Amsterdam Avenue and the river and between One 
Hundred and Fifty-third and One Hundred and Fifty- 
fifth streets, and opened it as Trinity Cemetery in 1843. 
To it were transferred at that time, and later, the bodies 
from the graveyards attached to St. George's in Beek- 
man Street, St. Stephen's in Broome Street, and St. 
Thomas's in Broadway, as those edifices gave way to 
the advance of business and were sold by their congre- 
gations. Upon the stone fence at the corner of One 
Hundred and Fifty-third Street and Broadway is a 
bronze tablet erected by the Sons of the Revolution, 
stating that upon this height and through the cemetery 
grounds was constructed one of the southern outworks 
of Fort Washington. It was the first portion of the works 
to fall in the assault of November 16, 1776. When the 
Boulevard was constructed about 1870, the cemetery was 
cut into two parts connected by a suspension bridge. The 
grounds are laid out in terraces, and from the top of the 
hill the view looking down through the trees to the river 
is a beautiful one. General John A. Dix is buried here; 
and upon several occasions I have been the guest of the 
Grand Army post named after him, and have attended 
the ceremonies at his grave on Memorial Day. To look 
from above while the veterans wind their way up the hill 
to the strains of Chopin's Funeral March presents an 
affecting and beautiful scene which one long remembers. 
A monument in the form of an Irish cross at the northern 
entrance bears the name of the great American naturalist 
and ornithologist Audubon. 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 315 

Washington Heights have only become accessible since 
the building of the subway. In my younger days it was 
a favorite walk for myself and a few companions. We 
took the Eighth Avenue cars as far as their terminus at 
Manhattanville, and then struck down to the Hudson 
through the Hollow Way, turning north on the railway 
tracks to Jeffrey's Point upon which Fort Washington 
was in part located ; then we climbed to the top of the hill, 
ending our walk at Kingsbridge and returning by the 
railroad. The roadway over which we tramped led through 
one private estate after another, giving us fine views 
of comfortable mansions and well-kept grounds, with 
glimpses through the trees of the noble river below 
and of the Palisades opposite. Most of these mansions 
have disappeared, though there are several that deserve 
mention. 

The James Gordon Bennett place occupied a part of 
the land upon which Fort Washington is situated. John 
James Audubon lived in Audubon Park above One 
Hundred and Fifty -fifth Street. Here he was far removed 
from the noise and turmoil of the city — the "crazy" city, 
as he called it — -which he loathed with all the feeling of a 
man whose life had been spent principally in the open air 
in communion with Nature. Here he died in 1851 and 
was buried in Trinity Cemetery. 

Audubon Park has disappeared, and in its place are a 
number of city blocks already filling up with great apart- 
ment houses. A few of the old mansions are to be found 
below the public driveway the city is constructing (Twelfth 
Avenue) above the tracks of the New York Central 
railroad. Some of those in the upper part of the old 
park have been converted into road-houses along the line 
of Fort Washington Avenue, which begins at One Hundred 
and Fifty-ninth Street. The block bounded by Broad- 



3i6 The World's Greatest Street 

way, Twelfth Avenue, and One Hundred and Fifty-fifth 
and One Hundred and Fifty-sixth streets is a notable one ; 
for it contains a group of beautiful buildings, due prin- 
cipally to the generosity of Archer M. Huntington. 
These already completed are the American Numismatic 
Society's building, organized in 1858, and the build- 
ing of the Hispanic Society of America, which was 
opened in 1908. Two other buildings are in course of 
construction at this writing (May, 191 o), that of the 
American Geographical Society of New York, organ- 
ized in 1852, and a small Roman Catholic Church for 
services in Spanish. The buildings already occupied 
contain: the one, a collection of coins, medals, etc.; 
the other, paintings, illuminated and printed books, 
pottery, and archaeological specimens and relics from 
Spain, showing the progress of civilization in that country 
since the days of the Phoenicians. 

Alexander Hamilton owned an estate in this neigh- 
borhood on the Bloomingdale Road near One Hundred 
and Fortieth Street, and here he erected a handsome 
country-house which he named the "Grange" after 
the home of his grandfather in Ayrshire, Scotland. The 
house has been removed a short distance away to the 
east side of Convent Avenue, where it serves as the parish 
house of St. Luke's P. E. Church; so that it is assured 
of preservation for some time, at least. From the 
Grange, Hamilton used to drive to and from his ofhce 
in the city; after putting his affairs quietly in order, he 
took his last drive for his fatal meeting with Burr, without 
letting his "dear Betsy" have an inkling of the prospec- 
tive encounter. 

Of the thirteen trees planted by Hamilton in com- 
memoration of the thirteen original States, nothing now 
remains but the stumps and a few fallen logs ; these could 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 317 

a year or two back be easily procured by the relic hunter 
in the playground adjoining the R. C. Church of Our 
Lady of Lourdes in One Hundred and Forty-third Street. 
When searching for them in April, 1910, I was told by 
a real estate agent of the vicinity that the boys who use 
the playground had built fires about the few remaining 
trees and stumps with the result of destroying them all. 

South of Hamilton Grange are the extensive buildings 
of the College of the City of New York, situated on the 
summit of what used to be called Breakneck Hill, up 
which wound in olden times the steepest and most dan- 
gerous road in the city, a portion of the old post-road. 
The site is a commanding one; and its selection shows 
good judgment upon the part of those who are responsible 
for this group of fine buildings containing the highest 
of the city's free, educational institutions. 

Mention of Burr brings to mind a still older and finer 
house than the Grange, and filled with associations even 
more historic. This is the Roger Morris, or Jumel, man- 
sion, which stands near the Kingsbridge Road at One 
Hundred and Sixty-first Street. The property which 
it occupies was originally conveyed by the town of New 
Harlem to one of the settlers named Hendrick Kiersen, 
in March, 1696. The grant lay between the present One 
Hundred and Fifty -ninth and One Hundred and Sixty- 
third streets, from the Kingsbridge Road to the edge of the 
cliff overlooking the Harlem River. The present edifice 
was built in 1 758 by Colonel Roger Morris as a home for 
his bride, Mary Philipse of the Yonkers. Morris and 
Washington were aides on the staff of General Braddock 
in that ill-starred officer's unfortunate campaign in the 
old French w^ar. Military business brought the young 
Virginian to Boston in 1756, and on his return he stopped 
at the house in New York of his friend. Colonel Beverley 



3i8 



The World's Greatest Street 



Robinson, where he met his host's sister-in-law, Mary 
Philipse. Tradition says that he fell in love with her, 
but there are no facts in the case. However, if he had 
proposed to her, it is not likely that she would have ac- 
cepted an impecunious land-surveyor, as Washington 
was at that time. So he passed on, and his former 
companion-in-arms, Roger Morris, won the brilliant 
and witty Mary. During the War for Independence, 




THE ROGER MORRIS, OR JUMEL, MANSION 



Colonel Morris, though at first inclined to take up the 
colonial cause, was persuaded by his wife, so it is said, 
to remain loyal to the king. In consequence, he lost 
all his property in America by confiscation. 

During the operations in this vicinity, Washington 
occupied the house as his headquarters from September 
1 6th, to October 21, 1776, when he retreated to White 
Plains. During the British occupation of the island, 
it was the headquarters, off and on for over six years, 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 319 

of Lieutenant-General Knyphausen, the senior officer 
of the German mercenaries. After the war it passed into 
the possession of a farmer; and while Washington was 
President, he and his Cabinet visited the house in July, 
1790. It was in this house in the fearsome days of 1776 
that Washington first met Alexander Hamilton, later 
offering the young captain of artillery a position on his 
staff, which Hamilton accepted. Thus began that close 
intimacy which was to be of such incalculable benefit 
to the country, the calm steadfastness of the older man 
supplementing and holding in check the brilliant genius 
of the younger. 

The property passed into the possession of John 
Jacob Astor, who sold it, about 1810, to Stephen Jumel, 
a wealthy French merchant of New York. His wife was 
a beautiful New England girl of whom conflicting ac- 
counts are given.* Jumel and his wife visited France, 
where they moved in the best society of the First Empire, 
returning with many beautiful articles of furniture, the 
loot of French palaces and chateaux. With these they 
decked their rooms, extending a generous hospitality, 
and entertaining such distinguished visitors as Talley- 
rand and Jerome Bonaparte. Jumel died in 1832; and 
Aaron Burr, then almost an octogenarian, but still 
possessing those wonderful powers of fascination for 
women of whatever age for which he had been notorious, 
came a-courting the widow. She withstood his impor- 
tunities; but Burr said finally that he would appear on 
a certain day with a clergyman and the wedding should 
take place. He kept his word, and Madam Jumel, to 
avoid a scandal, consented. Under date of Wednesday, 
July 3, 1833, Philip Hone says in his diary: "The cele- 
brated Col. Burr was married on Monday evening to the 
* Read The Conqueror by Gertrude Atherton. 






\ 



TREES AND STONE WALL MARKING THE WEST SIDE OF OLD BLOOMINGDALE 
ROAD, 1906. LOOKING SOUTHWEST FROM BROADWAY AT I24TH STREET. 
grant's tomb IN DISTANCE 
320 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 321 

equally celebrated Mrs. Jumel, widow of Stephen Jumel. 
It is benevolent of her to keep the old man in his latter 
days. One good term deserves another." 

Madam Jumel was rich and Aaron Burr was poor; 
but old as he was, his brilliant, but misguided, genius 
impelled him to attempt once more to recover the ground 
he had lost since the duel with Hamilton and his trial 
for treason. His wife's wealth was to furnish the means, 
and this he squandered so lavishly that she asked for an 
accounting. He refused. Then followed scenes between 
the ill-matched couple, and, after one year of marriage, 
a separation. Burr died in poverty and obscurity on 
Staten Island in September, 1836, and his widow sur- 
vived him until 1865. Her last days were spent in a 
different fashion from those of her youth and middle 
age. She became a greedy and avaricious recluse, seeing 
few visitors, and hoarding her income, which grew to be 
large from the increment in value of her real estate. 
The final sale of her property was in 1882, or 1883; I 
remember driving up the Kingsbridge Road about that 
time and seeing the posters advertising the sale. 

General Ferdinand P. Earle was the last owner of the 
property in 1900, and he called the place "Earlcliff, " 
In 1 90 1, the mansion and what was left of the once large 
estate passed into the ownership of the city of New York 
for $235,000 for use as a public park and museum of 
colonial and Revolutionary relics. Two patriotic or- 
ganizations, the Colonial Dames and the Daughters of 
the American Revolution, sought the honor of being its 
custodians; but the legislature was not to be overcome 
by the blandishments of either party, and left the decision 
to the commissioner of parks, fairly shirking the re- 
sponsibility and putting it upon his shoulders. (Poor 
man!) The various chapters of the Daughters of the 




Drawn by Eliza Greatorex 



THE CROSSED KEYS TAVERN 



322 



From 96th Street to 168th Street 323 

American Revolution located within the city formed a 
general committee to take charge of the historic mansion, 
later forming themselves into the Washington Head- 
quarters Association and incorporating March 17, 1904; 
whereupon the custody of the house was awarded to 
them by the park commissioner. 

The house is in an excellent state of preservation and 
remains almost as it was originally built. It stands on 
a bluff; and from its cupola a magnificent view can be 
obtained of the Harlem Valley and its bridges; and, so 
it is stated, seven counties in three different States may 
be seen from the same vantage point. There is a com- 
memorative tablet on the building, placed there by the 
Washington Heights Chapter, D. A. R., and another 
which bears this inscription : ' ' This property was acquired 
by the city of New York under the administration of 
Seth Low, Mayor, and was formally opened as a public 
park December 28, 1903." There is also a bronze 
medallion of Washington at the side of the doorway. 
The house was opened as a public museum. May 28, 1907, 
and is free to the public. 

At One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street Broadway 
merges itself in the Kingsbridge Road which, during the 
rest of its course to the bridge over Spuyten Duyvel 
Creek, assumes the name of Broadway. At the junction 
of the two roads, on the west side from One Hundred 
and Sixty -fifth to One Hundred and Sixty-eighth streets 
is the new resort of the baseball enthusiasts, the 
American League Park. 

In colonial days a stone house and tavern, called the 
Crossed Keys from its sign, stood on the Kingsbridge 
Road at about One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Street. A 
notice of it appeared in the Historical Magazine for 
October, 1881, which describes it as still in use. 




CHAPTER XIII 

FROM ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHTH STREET TO KINGS- 
BRIDGE 

NE Hundred and Eighty-first Street 
is an important cross thorough- 
fare, leading from the Washington 
Bridge, and toward the west to Fort 
Washington. Holyrood Chapel of 
the P. E. Church, organized in 
1893, is situated on it at Broadway. 
The Roman Catholic Church of St. 
Elizabeth, organized 1870, is at One Hundred and Eighty- 
seventh Street, and the Mt. Washington Presbyterian 
Church, organized in 1846, is at Dyckman Street, where 
the road leads down to Inwood Station. It is a quaint, 
country-like church with a tall steeple painted yellow. 
The Holyrood Chapel was built less than fifteen years 
ago and the property cost about fifteen thousand dollars; 
the land is now worth two hundred thousand dollars, and 
the church has already accepted an offer for it and will 
move to Fort Washington Avenue. This transaction 
gives an indication of the increase in values of land in 
this vicinity. 

On the river bank at Jeffrey's Neck, where is now 
located Fort Washington Park, was the Revolutionary 
fortification of the patriots, erected under the plans 

324 



326 The World's Greatest Street 

of Major Rufus Putnam, Washington's engineer. The 
outworks of the fort extended in all directions for over a 
mile, and on the Jersey shore of the river was Fort Lee. 
It was expected that these two forts, with the obstructions 
placed in the river for the purpose, would prevent the 
passage up the stream of the British vessels; but in this 
expectation the Americans were disappointed, as the 
war vessels sailed safely through the obstructions. Much 
against his own judgment, Washington, instead of 
dismantling the fort upon his own evacuation of the 
island, listened to the request of Congress and left it 
with a garrison under Colonel Magaw. After their 
unsuccessful Westchester campaign, the British turned 
their attention to the reduction of Fort Washington. 
After several days of preparation, they carried it by 
assault on November i6, 1776, and Magaw and his three 
thousand troops became prisoners of war to die and rot 
in the New York prisons. Thus the Americans lost 
their last foothold on Manhattan Island. The fort 
was occupied by the British and was renamed Fort 
Knyphausen in honor of the leader of the Hessians 
who had taken the principal part in its capture. 

We have a rather general idea that the Hessians 
were fit only for looting and other outrages. One has 
only to look at the precipitous bluff below Fort Tryon, 
the northernmost of the fortifications below Inwood, to 
realize that they could also fight upon occasion. Loaded 
down with paraphernalia weighing fifty pounds or more 
and carrying a musket weighing sixteen pounds, they 
stormed these bluffs and carried them in the face of the 
finest marksmen in the world. The lines of the old fort 
are plainly visible, and as they are within a public park, 
they bid fair to be preserved for all time. On November 
16, 1901, the anniversary of the battle, an appropriate 




327 



328 The World's Greatest Street 

monument and tablet were dedicated on Fort Wash- 
ington Avenue, at the base of one of the old ramparts, 
the land being given for the purpose by James Gordon 
Bennett the younger, the proprietor of the New York 
Herald. The earthworks of Fort Tryon, just below In- 
wood, are easily discernible near the former residence of 
Will'am Muschenheim of the Hotel Astor. 

Beyond One Hundred and Seventieth Street, the 
Kingsbridge Road finds its way down the hill on to 
the Dyckman meadows between a precipitous bluff on 
the east, the Laurel Hill of earlier days where Fort 
George, one of the outer defences of Fort Washington, 
was located, and an equally bold line of bluffs on the 
west continuing to the end of the island. There is a 
passage through these to the Hudson to which the 
name of Inwood is given. This is the present terminus 
of Lafayette Boulevard which is itself virtually an 
extension of Riverside Drive. 

North of Inwood, the greater part of the land may be 
said to have constituted the old Dyckman property, 
though there were some other owners. Near the extreme 
end of the island, Governor Kieft made two grants to 
Matthys Jansen and Huyck Aertsen in 1646 and 1647; 
but the town of New Harlem later owned the tract at 
the wading place, of which more later, as common land. 
The Jansen and Aertsen tracts afterwards became the 
home farm of Jan Dyckman. The original home of the 
Dyckmans stood on the bank of the Harlem River near 
Two Hundred and Ninth Street but was vacated by the 
family during the Revolution when they left with the 
Americans. Upon their return, they found that their 
homestead had been burnt, and nothing but its ruins 
remained. A new homestead, still standing, was built 
at the corner of Broadway and Hawthorne Street; but 




329 



330 



The World's Greatest Street 



how much longer it will stand unless measures are 
taken to preserve it, is a question easily answered 
when we take into account the fate of other ancient 
buildings. 

Associated with Dyckman was Jan Nagel, both of 
whom were young, enterprising, and progressive men, 
who in time secured by lot, purchase, and exchange nearly 
all of this upper end of the island. The Dyckmans, 





P'3 JUi i 






ni=Jn3-..:^j,.,;ijiF''W*»i5re^ 



STRANG HOUSE, OLD DYCKMAN HOME, BROADWAY AND TWO HUNDRED 
AND NINTH STREET 



both of this section and of the adjoining county of West- 
chester, were patriots during the Revolution, and several 
of them served as guides and scouts for the American 
marauding parties; one of them, Lieutenant William 
Dyckman, was killed at Eastchester near the end of the 
war. A monument commemorating his death and that 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Greene and Major Flagg of Rhode 
Island was erected som.e years ago at Yorktown Cemetery 
in the northern part of Westchester County. Greene 
and Flagg were killed at Pine's Bridge over the 



From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 331 

Croton River during a raid of De Lancey's corps of 
loyalists.* 

Above One Hundred and Seventieth Street, there 
are still several estates on the west side of the road, 
and the green lawns and fine trees make a scene of great 
beauty. As in the days of old, a number of the mansions 
have been converted into road-houses where the autoist 
may refresh himself. But the doom of these places is 
near at hand ; for the street department of the city govern- 
ment is cutting through and filling in, and before many 
years have gone by we shall see solid blocks of houses 
occupying these still beautiful sites. Luckily, the con- 
figuration of the ground is such that the old rectangular 
plan of blocks has had to be modified, and we find avenues 
and streets curving and winding up the adjoining hillsides. 
To the east the meadows present no such problems, and 
it has been simply a matter of filling in the lines of the 
streets. The property has been on the market for a few 
years and is gradually being occupied; one thing in its 
favor being that, though it is a longer ride on the subway 
to business the passenger is reasonably sure of obtaining 
a seat in the cars instead of hanging by a strap. In- 
corporated in the wall of the property above Hawthorne 
Street on the west side is one of the old brownstone 
mile-stones, reading "12 miles from New York." 

On the west side of the old Kingsbridge Road, on 
the lane leading to Fort Washington (One Hundred and 
Eighty-first Street) there stood in colonial days a popular 
tavern known as the Blue Bell. Cadwalader Golden, 
while on a journey to New York in October, 1753, stopped 
here and later wrote to his wife: "It was very well kept 
by a Dutchman named Vandewater, and our food and 
lodging were very comfortable." Tradition says it was 

* See the author's novel, A Princess and Another. 



332 The World's Greatest Street 

the headquarters of General Heath who was in charge 
of the American defences near Kingsbridge before the 
evacuation of the island by the patriots in 1776. The 
Hessian Colonel Rahl also occupied it after the attack 
on Fort Washington, One of his aides fell in love with 
the pretty daughter of the house and promised to remain 
in America if she would marry him. His commanding 
officer, as well as the girl's parents, favored the match, 
and so they were married. When the Hessians were 
captured at Trenton, the young husband refused to be 
exchanged, but took the oath of allegiance to the United 
States and, with his wife, settled in East Jersey. When 
the patriots were marching into the city at the time of 
the British evacuation, it is said that Washington stood 
in front of the house while the troops marched past in 
review. At the same time he gave into custody a young 
British deserter who had married a girl at the Blue Bell 
the day before and who did not w-ant to accompany his 
comrades on their departure from this country. The 
tavern was still standing in 1848, as a contemporary 
writer makes note of the fact; and it is further shown 
by an advertisement in the same year in which Stephen 
Dolbeer notifies his friends and the public that "he has 
opened the Blue Bell tavern, at Fort Washington." 

"Felix Oldboy" says that the Dutchman, having 
found a place for his home and garden, immediately be- 
gan to look about him for a place to dig a canal. We have 
seen how popular the section containing the canal in 
Broad Street became. Plans were early proposed for 
connecting the East and Hudson Rivers by way of the 
Collect Pond and the stream which took its overflow 
into the Hudson through Lispenard's meadow; and when 
the improvements in Canal Street w^ere made, even in 
American days, they at first took the form of a canal 



From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 333 

lined with trees. The old Dutch settlers proposed 
digging a canal from the Harlem mere by way of 
Matje David's Vly, the Hollow Way, or valley through 
which Manhattan Street leads to the Fort Lee Ferry. 
In 1827, a company was incorporated for the purpose of 
doing what had been suggested a century and a half 
before by using the same route. Elaborate plans were 
formulated, glowing prospectuses were issued, some of 




THE BLUE BELL TAVERN 



the stock was subscribed for, a part of the work was 
actually done, — and then the whole scheme collapsed. 

It was reserved for the national government to carry 
out at last this two-century-old scheme of connecting 
the two rivers and to save vessels bound from one river 
to the other the long and hazardous trip around the 
island of Manhattan. The tortuous windings of Spuyten 
Duyvil creek did not commend that stream to the 
engineers, who decided to cut through the base of the 
limestone hill at the northern end of the island, about 
Two Hundred and Twenty-second Street, deepen the 



334 The World's Greatest Street 

Harlem, and connect it by a wide and deep cut with the 
western entrance of Spuyten Duyvil creek from the 
Hudson. Several years were spent in the work and 
$2,700,000 were expended before the ship canal was 
opened for traffic, June 17, 1895. At the same time the 
city erected a great drawbridge to carry Broadway 
across the new waterway. When the subway was con- 
structed, it was found that this bridge would not be 
strong enough to carry the increased burden, and a 
clever engineering scheme was devised to remove the 
old bridge and replace it with one suited to the increased 
prospective weight. The new bridge was constructed 
on floats and taken to the canal; then large flatboats 
were placed under the old bridge, and as the tide rose 
it lifted the floats and the bridge with them. The floats 
were then towed away and the new bridge drawn into 
the vacant place. As the tide fell, the floats fell with 
it and the new bridge was thus lowered into place. The 
plan worked so well that there was but little loss of time 
or interruption to traffic over the roadway. Later, 
the New York Central Railroad determined to wipe 
out the circuitous and dangerous passage through Kings- 
bridge. A dike was built across the Harlem River 
below the Farmers' Bridge, and the tracks were laid 
upon a shelf blasted out on the northern bank of the 
canal. 

The Indian name of the stream connecting the East 
and the North Rivers was Muscoota; but from the very 
earliest days the part of the Harlem River nearest the 
Hudson was called Spuyten Duyvil creek, though how 
it received this name is still a question. Many reasons 
have been given, but none that is entirely satisfactory. 
The most likely is that the name was given from the 
spring of water which "spouted" from the hill near the 



336 The World's Greatest Street 

end of the island; and mention is made of this spring 
in several of the early English grants. Another, offered 
by Riker, is that the Indians of this neighborhood, 
remembering their first encounter with the HalJ-Moon 
off the mouth of the creek and the firing of the falcon 
that killed several of them, called the creek "Spouting 
Devil"; but this explanation would presume on their 
part a knowledge of English, which they could not have 
possessed until sixty years afterward. Before the con- 
struction of the ship canal, the tides used to race through 
the creek with great rapidity, and when the two tides 
from the Harlem and Hudson Rivers met, the tide rips 
thus formed caused a great turbulence in the creek, so 
that the water "spouted," or was thrown into the air, 
a fact that will be remembered by those acquainted with 
the creek in those days. Upon ancient maps and records 
we find many variants of the name; as "Spitting devil," 
"Spiking devil," "Spitten devil," "Spouting devil," 
"Spiken devil, "—but many of these we may lay to 
bad spelling, as colonial orthography was no better 
than that of the present-day schoolboy. It is to 
Irving that we must go for a picturesque origin of the 
name. 

He says: .. u.^ 

Resolutely bent, however, upon defending his beloved 
city, in despite even of itself, he [Petrus Stuyvesant] called 
unto him his trusty Van Corlaer, who was his right hand man 
in all times of emergency. Him did he adjure to take his 
war-denouncing trumpet, and mounting his horse, to beat up 
the country night and day — sounding the alarm along the 
pastoral borders of the Bronx — startling the wild solitudes of 
Croton — arousing the rugged yeomanry of Weehawk and 
Hoboken — the mighty men of battle of Tappaan Bay — and 
the brave boys of Tarry Town and Sleepy Hollow. . . . 



From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 337 

It was a dark and stormy night when the good Anthony 
arrived at the creek (sagely denominated Haerlem river) 
which separates the island of Mannahata from the main land. 
The wind was high, the elements were in an uproar, and no 
Charon could be found to ferry the adventurous sounder of 
brass across the water. For a short time he vapored like an 
impatient ghost upon the brink, and then bethinking himself 
of the urgency of his errand, he took a hearty embrace of his 
stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across 
en spijt den Duyvel, (in spite of the devil !) and daringly plunged 
into the stream. Luckless Anthony! scarce had he buffeted 
half way over, when he was observed to struggle violently, 
as if battling with the spirit of the waters — instinctively he 
put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement blast — 
sunk for ever to the bottom. 

The potent clangor of his trumpet . . . rung far and wide 
through the country, alarming the neighbors round, who 
hurried in amazement to the spot. Here an old Dutch bur- 
gher, famed for his veracity, and who had been a witness of the 
fact, related to them the melancholy affair; with the fearfiil 
addition (to which I am slow of giving belief) that h saw the 
duyvel, in the shape of a huge moss-bonker, seize the sturdy 
Anthony by the leg, and drag him beneath the waves. Certain 
it is, the place, with the adjoining promontory, which projects 
into the Hudson, has been called Spijt den Duyvel, or Spiking 
devil, ever since. . . . Nobody ever attempts to swim over the 
creek after dark; on the contrary, a bridge has been built to 
guard against such melancholy accidents in the future — and as 
to moss-bonkers, they are held in such abhorrence, that no 
true Dutchman will admit them to his table, who loves good 
fish and hates the devil. 

At low tide there was a natural ford through the 
creek which was used by the Indians and by the early 
settlers. This is spoken of in the early records as ''the 
loading place,'' and was situated where the present 



338 



The World's Greatest Street 



Broadway crosses. During the administration of Gov- 
ernor Lovelace, the Harlem people established a ferry 
to the mainland from about Second Avenue and One 
Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, and Johannes Ver- 
veelen was made the ferryman. Rather than pay his 




KINGSBRIDGE AND SPUYTEN DUYVEL CREEK BEFORE IT WAS FILLED IN 

rates, the farmers and other travellers continued to use 
the ford; and so a fence was erected to prevent access 
to it and to oblige people to use the ferry. Several 
times the fence was torn down; and, finally, Verveelen 
made a virtue of necessity and the ferry was moved to 
the wading place. At the same time he was granted 
sixteen acres of land in what had been the Jansen grant 
of 1646, which the Harlem people claimed because the 
Jansens had not made the required improvements called 
for by their patent. Later, the Jansen heirs tried to 
recover the land; but Governor Lord Bellomont would 



From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 339 

not sign the act of the provincial legislature restoring 
their right to it. From the Indian name, the place was 
known as Papariniman, or Paparinemo. 

The ferry was the only means of getting to and from 
the mainland until 1693, when Frederick Philipse secured 
his patent for the Manor of Philipsburgh, one clause of 
which required that he should build and maintain a 
bridge across the creek, for which he could charge and 
collect toll, and that it should be called "The King's 
Bridge." He was also required to conduct a tavern 
for the accommodation of travellers, and the rates were 
fixed; but there was free passage for farmers and others 
on the day preceding a fair, during its continuance, and 
the day after, as well as to troops, their guns and their 
equipment, and to persons on government or public 
business. In 1712, the bridge was removed to its present 
site but its days are apparently numbered, for the creek 
has been completely filled in on the west and there is a 
scheme to fill it in on the east as far as the New York 
Central tracks and to use the land thus made for a base- 
ball field. It will be a great pity to see this old landmark 
go. Over it crossed the retreating army of the Americans 
in the fall of 1776; over it they crossed again in 1783 
when they came into their own again; and during the 
war it was used constantly by the British. 

For many years, the farmers of Westchester County 
objected to paying the tolls upon the bridge to help 
fill the coffers of the manor lord; and in 1758, Jacob 
Dyckman, Frederick Palmer, and others succeeded, 
notwithstanding the active, preventive measures of 
Frederick Philipse, in building a free bridge across the 
creek at the foot of the present Two Hundred and Twenty- 
fifth Street. This is officially known as the Farmers' 
Bridge, though locally, as "Hadley's" from one of the 



340 



The World's Greatest Street 



early land-owners in the vicinity. The free bridge was 
opened with a barbecue and great rejoicings on the first 
of January, 1759; and the ancient toll bridge was soon 
forced to become a free bridge, also. Dyckman erected 
and maintained a tavern on the Manhattan side; on the 
Westchester side, the bridge conducted travellers into 




CENTURY HOUSE, NEAR SPUVTEN 1)1 \ \ II. rKl.i:K, HARLEM RIVER, I861 



John Archer's village of Fordham; i. e., the ham, or 
town, at the ford. 

The tavern became immensely popular on account 
of the diversion of traffic from the old bridge, but it did 
not pay, and in consequence Jacob Dyckman was obliged 
to make an assignment. His property of thirty acres 
was sold February ii, 1773, to Caleb Hyatt, who con- 
tinued to conduct the tavern and who was succeeded by 
his son Jacob, so that it became known as Hyatt's Tavern, 
and is so spoken of by General Heath in his memoirs. 



From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 341 

The Farmers' Bridge was destroyed by the British 
when at the end of the war they left this section. On 
the bank of the Harlem, near Two Hundred and Thir- 
teenth Street, Jan Nagel, 2d, built a stone house 
in 1736, which was known for many years as the Cen- 
tury House. Its destruction is only quite recent. Up 
to within twenty years ago, boats used to ply on the 
Harlem from the Third Avenue bridge as far as the 
Century House. There were the Tiger Lily and several 
others; and the sail was a pleasant one, the boat stopping 
at High Bridge and other places where there were beer 
gardens and similar pleasure resorts, and connecting 
with the fast boats which formerly ran from Harlem 
Bridge to Peck Slip — this was before the days of the 
elevated railroad. 

There are a good many Revolutionary associations 
connected with this neighborhood; for the British had 
two forts on Marble Hill near the end of the island. 
These were Fort Prince Charles and the Cock Hill Fort; 
they also had two pontoon bridges connecting with the 
mainland, one near the Hudson and the other below 
Fort George ; in addition, Tubby Hook was also fortified. 
On the day of the assault upon Fort Washington, No- 
vember 16, 1776, Lord Cornwallis with several thousand 
troops went through the creek in a flotilla of boats for 
the purpose of attacking the fortifications from the 
Hudson River side; after the fall of the fort this section 
remained in the possession of the British until the close 
of the war. Heath describes an attempt to recover 
Fort Independence from the enemy in December, 1776, 
during which the Americans attempted to place a cannon 
on the opposite bank of the Harlem so as to get the range 
of the forts on Marble Hill; but the British acted first 
and opened fire on them so that the patriots had to scam- 



342 



The World's Greatest Street 



per up the bank, dragging their gun behind them. The 
fire from the Americans, however, sent the Hessians 




OLD KINGSBRIDGE HOTEL. A POPULAR ROAD-HOUSE OF FORMER DAYS 



within their forts and into the cellars of the houses for 
safety. 

At Two Hundred and Twenty- seventh Street is a 
large building, giving evidences of having seen better days. 
It is called the Kingsbridge Hotel, but was more famous 
in the days of the horse as the Kingsbridge Inn, when it 
was a favorite road-house. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX AND LOWER WESTCHESTER 

COUNTY 




'N the year 1639, Comelis Van Tienhoven, 
the fiscal, or secretary, of the Dutch 
West India Company, bought from 
the Indians a tract of land called 
Keskeskeck on the Maine, north of 
the Harlem River, whose eastern 
boundary was Bronk's kill, and 
western, the Noordt, or Hudson 
River; the northern limits of the tract were indeter- 
minate. Owing to the fact that the first settler was 
Jonas Bronk, the eastern portion of this purchase was 
called " Brouncksland " and the river near his house 
and farm was called Bronk's River, from which we get, 
by easy transition, the Bronx. On November i, 1683, 
the proprietary of New York was divided into twelve 
counties, and the land just mentioned became a part of 
Westchester County. 

Strung along on the east bank of the Hudson was 
a number of Indian villages belonging to the Manhattans, 
the Weckquaesgeeks, the Sint Sincks and other kindred 
tribes of the Mohicans. Between these villages were 
Indian trails which were used by the incoming whites ; 

343 



344 The World's Greatest Street 

these, in time, developed into wagon roads, and the Albany 
Post-road, the present Broadway, was such an expansion 
of the old Indian trail with modifications as far as Albany. 
On the nineteenth of June, 1703, the colonial assembly 
passed: "An act for the Laying out Regulateing Clearing 
and preserving Publick Comon highways thro'out this 
Colony," part of which reads as follows: 

And one other Publick Comon General Highway to Ex- 
tend from Kings Bridge in the County of Westchester thro' 
the same County of Westchester Dutchess County and the 
County of Albany of the breadth of Four Rod English Measure 
at the Least to be Continued and remain for ever the Publick 
Comon General Road and Highway from King Bridge afore- 
said to the Ferry at Crawlew over against the City of Albany. 

This was the legal beginning of the post-road, but 
it was many years before it became a post-road in the 
ordinary accepted meaning of the term. 

From the Philadelphia Almanack of lyyg, we take 
the following extract from the table of roads from Phila- 
delphia to Crown Point: 

From Philadelphia to New York, 97; to Kingfbridge, 15; 
to Cocklins, 22 ; to Crotons Riv., 12 ; to Peekfkill, 10 ; to Rogers, 
9; to Fifhkill, II; to Poughkeepffe, 14; to Staatfborough, 11; 
to Rynbeck, 6; to Schermerhorns, 10; to Livingftons M., 14; 
to Claverack, 7; to Kinderhook, 14; to half way H., 10; to 
Albany, 10 

a total of 175 miles from New York to Albany. The 
place termed "Cockhns" is in Tarry town and should be 
Conklin's ; as we find in the town records of Greenburgh, 
Westchester County, under date of 1742: "fore overzeers 
for the Kings Roads Jacop Conklin, for the Road from 
tomas storm [Thomas Storm's] to the mills [Philipse's on 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 345 

the Pocantico — this would be a portion of Broadway] 
. . . and Joseph Conkhn, Junr." 

Upon crossing the Spuyten Duyvil Creek by the 
ford, the ferry, or the bridge, the traveller arrived on a 
marshy island called Paparinemo. The Indians called 
this section Shorrack-kappock, and they had a village 
on Spuyten Duyvil, or Berrien's neck called Nipnichsen. 
Northward of Paparinemo was a great meadow, or 
marsh, through which meandered Tibbett's brook, the 
Mosholu of the Indians. The traveller could not, there- 
fore, go north, but was obliged to turn toward the east 
through the marsh to the higher and dryer ground on the 
east side of the valley. Later, about 1695, a causeway 
was built on the line of Macomb Street, which made it 
easier and dryer. Upon reaching the higher ground 
the road divided, the main one going up over the hill and 
across to Williamsbridge and Boston, the other turning 
northward and crossing to the west side of the valley 
in front of the Van Cortlandt mansion; this latter was 
the Albany Post-road and was opened as far as the Saw- 
kill in 1669. About 1808, the Highland Turnpike Com- 
pany filled in the marsh above the bridge and continued 
the road up the middle of the valley, erecting gates and 
charging toll; this is the approximate line of Broadway 
of the present. 

The first white owner of this section after the purchase 
of 1639 was Adrien Van der Donck, a native of Holland 
and a lawyer by profession. He was an educated and 
well-to-do man, and he bought from the company and 
the Indians a large tract extending several miles up the 
Hudson. In Holland the sons of a gentleman are called 
jonkheer, and Van der Donck was always called de 
Jonkheer Van der Donck. His tract was called by the 
English the "Jonkheer's land"; which, by natural con- 



346 The World's Greatest Street 

traction, and since the Dutch "j" is pronounced "y, " 
became the Yonkers, the name by which this section 
was known until about 1830, when it became simply 
Yonkers. 

Under the provisions for forming patroonships adopted 
by the company in 1629, Van der Donck took steps to 
form his purchases of 1646 into a patroonship ; but he 
was disHked by Governor Stuyvesant, whose arrogant 
will he had attempted to thwart, and he did not succeed 
in becoming a patroon until 1653, dying within a couple 
of years later. His property of Colon Donck (Donck's 
Colony) as it was called by the Dutch, or Nepperhaem, 
as it was called in his grond brief, or land patent, passed 
into the possession of his widow, who married Hugh 
O'Neale of Patuxent, Maryland, before 1651. She turned 
the property over to her brother, Elias Doughty, in 
1666. He sold the tract to various purchasers, one of 
whom, Frederick Philipse, became in time the owner 
of nearly all that had belonged to Van der Donck as well 
as a great deal more, carrying his territory as far north 
as the Croton River. He was the richest man in the 
colony and was called by the English "the Dutch mil- 
lionaire." In 1693, his land was formed into the English 
manor of Philipsborough, or Philipsburgh ; at the same 
time he built the bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek and 
as manor-lord became responsible for the maintenance 
of the road to the bridge, the Albany Post-road. During 
the time of Governor Fletcher, Philipse was more deeply 
interested in the piratical and contraband trade than 
any other merchant, and his name was sent to England as 
one of those who should be investigated. He was one 
of the backers of Captain Kidd in Bellomont's time, and 
it is stated that Lord Bellomont remarked that: "If the 
coffers of Frederick Philipse were searched, Captain 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 347 

Kidd's missing treasures could easily be found." As 
a result of Bellomont's attempts to suppress the "free" 
trade, Philipse resigned from the council and retired 
to his manor about 1698 and spent the remaining years 




From a photograph 

THE GODWIN, FORMERLY THE MACOMB HOUSE, KINGSBRIDGE 

of his life in its development. He died in 1702, at the age 
of seventy-six. 

The first manor-lord was succeeded by his grandson, 
also a Frederick Philipse, and a minor at the time of his 
grandfather's death; and he, in turn, was succeeded by 
his son. Colonel Frederick Philipse, the third and last 
manor-lord, in 1751. Colonel Philipse was a Tory, or 
at least a neutral, during the Revolution and lost his 
estate by confiscation in 1779 under the laws against 
the loyalists enacted b}^ the State legislature. He died 
in England in 1785, having gone there to live when the 
exodus of the British took place in 1783. The British 



348 The World's Greatest Street 

Government reimbursed him for the loss of his possessions, 
paying him about three hundred thousand dollars. 

The bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek is faced by a 
square stone house, known as the Godwin house, which 
was built by Alexander Macomb in the early part of the 
nineteenth century and was long occupied by his widow. 
Edgar Allan Poe, who lived at Fordham, less than two 
miles away, was a frequent visitor at the Macomb house. 
Incorporated in the mansion, it is believed, is the old inn 
which was erected by Frederick Philipse in 1693 and 
maintained by various inn-keepers for over a century. It 
was known at one time as Cock's Tavern ; and at another 
time, Cooper, in his novel of Satanstoe, makes the land- 
lady a Mrs. Lighte. His hero, Comey Littlepage, and 
his friend Dirck stopped at the inn upon several occasions. 

In the early part of the nineteenth century, General 
Alexander Macomb secured the right of establishing 
mill-dams and mills upon the Harlem River. The stream 
was dammed at the present Central Bridge near the 
terminus of Eighth Avenue, and also at Spuyten Duyvil, 
and a mill erected at the latter place. The scheme was 
unsuccessful, nor did the general's son do any better. 
The mill stood on the northern side of the creek, not far 
from the ancient bridge, and was supported by piers in 
the water, as well as on the land. The power was that 
of the tide. After the failure of the plan, the mill stood 
for many years unused; it was then converted into a 
boarding-house for workmen, but was finally deserted. 
It became in time a menace to life and was indicted as a 
nuisance, but in 1853, it took itself out of the way during 
a heavy storm and fell to pieces. 

The old road curves around the Godwin house lot, 
and a short distance above is Macomb Street, the site 
of the original causey connecting the bridge with the 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 349 

village of Fordham which was situated near the present 
Putnam railroad station. As we proceed north, on our 
left is the rocky core of the island of Paparinemo, but 
within half a mile we are crossing the meadows contiguous 
to Tibbett's brook, which gets its name from one of the 
purchasers from Doughty of the Van der Donck land. 




VAN CORTLANDT MANSIOX IN VAN CORTLANDT PARK 

These meadows extend for a considerable distance; 
but if we measure the future by the past, there is no 
doubt that within twenty-five years, they will be drained, 
filled in, and built upon. Overhead, the "subway" 
thunders to its termination at Van Cortlandt Park, to 
be extended some of these days to the Yonkers line. 

In the year 1788, the legislature of the State formed 
several new counties and divided them, as well as the 
existing ten, into townships. The town of Yonkers 
extended to Spuyten Duyvil Creek on the south. In 
November, 1872, the lower portion was formed into the 



350 The World's Greatest Street 

township of Kingsbridge; and on January i, 1874, it 
became a part of the city of New York and a part of the 
Twenty-fourth Ward. After the formation of the greater 
city in 1895, it became a part of the Borough of The 
Bronx, 

There are many historic associations connected with 
the spot, for here all travellers to and from Manhattan 
had to cross until the new bridge was erected over the 
Harlem near Third Avenue in 1797 and Coles laid out 
his new Boston Road through Morrisania. On Spuyten 
Duyvil neck the Americans constructed three redoubts 
to command the creek, and on Tetard's hill to the east, 
they erected a more pretentious affair, which they named 
Fort Independence, which commanded the bridges. 
When the British occupied the place in the fall of 1776, 
these redoubts were strengthened and formed Numbers 
One, Two, Three, and Four of a chain of eight redoubts 
along the creek and the Harlem. They served as bases 
for the marauding parties that went out through the 
country and also as havens of refuge in case of retreat. 

For a number of years preceding 1905, contractors 
were engaged in laying an immense trunk sewer under 
the highway, and the different strata of soil were exposed 
so that one could easily trace nature's work in filling 
in this ancient bay. The road was regraded and repaved 
and the trolley line connecting with Yonkers became more 
pleasant to ride upon, as passengers were not subjected 
to the bumps of the uneven road, nor to delays in waiting 
for other cars on the single track road. Then followed 
the change in the tracks of the New York Central which 
did away with several of the most dangerous grade 
crossings in the State. As we cross the meadows, we 
find that they are closing in and that the land north 
of us is becoming higher. On our right we soon come 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 351 

to Van Cortlandt Park with a group of fine trees about 
the old mansion, very frequently miscalled the "manor- 
house. " 

The first wife of the first Frederick Philipse was a 
widow with a daughter Eva, whom Philipse legally 




VAN CORTLANDT PARK. THE DAM AND MILL 

adopted as his own. She married Jacobus Van Cort- 
landt to whom Philipse sold fifty morgens of land at a 
bend of Tibbett's brook called George's point. Here 
\^an Cortlandt erected his house, dammed the brook, 
and built mills which were used until about 1880, but 
which were demolished about five years ago by the park 
department, as they were too rotten to repair and too 
dangerous to be left standing. The house stood between 
the dam and the group of locusts; its foundations and 
some old Butch bottles and pottery were discovered in 



352 



The World's Greatest Street 



grading the grounds here about ten years ago. It is 
supposed that Van der Donck's house had formerly 
occupied the same site. The mansion now standing 
west of the dam, and used as a museum of Colonial and 
Revolutionary relics under charge of The Colonial 




VAN CORTLANDT PARK. RUINS OF OLD MILL, REMOVED IN I903 

Dames of the State of New York, was built in 1748 by 
Frederick Van Cortlandt, who died in the following 
year. As the property received from his father Jacobus 
was entailed, it passed to Frederick's eldest son, also a 
Jacobus, and was known as "Lower Van Cortlandt ' s, " 
a second son, Frederick, at the time of the Revolution 
city clerk of New York, having a place on the post- 
road a short distance above and known as "Upper Van 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 353 

Cortlandt's," or the "white house." At this latter place, 
the British usually kept an outpost throughout the war. 
It was captured by General Lincoln in the advance against 
Fort Independence and the other fortifications in this 
neighborhood in December, 1776, by an expedition under 
Major-General Heath. On the east side of the valley, 
near the junction of the Boston and the Albany post- 
roads, Richard Montgomery, afterwards a major-general 
in the army, who was killed at Quebec, had a farm after 
he had resigned from the British army and had come 
to America, where, he said "he could hide his pride and 
his poverty." 

The Colonel Jacobus Van Cortlandt of Revolution? ry 
times was a Tory of a mild type, and his patriotic friends 
and neighbors who were so unfortunate as to fall into 
the hands of the British often had their condition ameli- 
orated by the exertions of the kindly gentleman. The 
house has entertained distinguished visitors, including 
Washington and Rochambeau during the grand recon- 
naissance of the allied armies in the summer of 1 781. 
Washington also stopped here on his way to the city 
with Governor Clinton and General Knox in November, 
1783. The old line of Broadway still exists to the west 
of the present highway, wandering through the hamlet 
of Mosholu. On the west is the Riverdale ridge with 
its knobby hummocks of land, in the midst of which the 
fleeing Stockbridge Indians sought refuge after their 
defeat by Simcoe, Tarleton, and Emmerick a couple of 
miles away in the northeast corner of Van Cortlandt Park. 

The entire Van Cortlandt estate and other property, 
amounting to 1 132 acres, were acquired by the city of 
New York in 1884 and formed into Van Cortlandt Park, 
which lies to the east of Broadway up to the city line. 
Just north of the Van Cortlandt mansion is the parade 
23 



354 



The World's Greatest Street 



ground, which is also used for the game of polo. At 
its upper end is the high hill known as Vault Hill, where 
are the burial ground and vaults of the Van Cortlandts. 
Upon the evacuation of New York by the Americans 
in 1776, Frederick Van Cortlandt, the city clerk, hid 




MONUMENT ON INDIAN FIELD, VAN CORTLANDT PARK 

the city records within the vaults, but they were soon 
discovered by the British and returned to the city hall. 
After the reconnaissance in force of the allied armies 
which were threatening New York in the summer of 
1 78 1, news reached Washington that the Count de Grasse 
with his fleet was approaching the capes of the Chesa- 
peake and that Lafayette had Cornwallis trapped in 
Yorktown, Virginia. The armies were paraded as if 
to attack New York, but were at once wheeled about 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 355 

and took up the march for the King's Ferry at Ver- 
planck's Point below Peekskill. In order to deceive 
Clinton and make him believe the armies were still north 
of the Harlem River, extensive camp-fires were main- 
tained for several days on Vault Hill ; and Clinton did not 
know that the allies had departed until he received word 
from his outposts that the Americans and the French 
were half way across the Jerseys on their way to Phila- 
delphia and Yorktown; then it was too late to intercept 
them. 

The land becomes higher as we approach the city 
of Yonkers. The southern suburbs of that progressive 
city have been developed principally within the past 
five years, a development due to the completion of the 
subway to Van Cortlandt. South Broadway, as the 
thoroughfare is known in Yonkers, passes down a steep 
hill to Getty Square. Here are two buildings of special 
interest, the Hollywood Inn and St. John's Protestant 
Episcopal Church. 

Hollywood Inn was built for and presented to the 
workingmen of Yonkers by the late William F. Cochran, 
a wealthy manufacturer and philanthropist of the city, 
as a club-house for their use. It is unsectarian, and no 
attempt is made to use it for anything else than for the 
recreation, amusement, and instruction of the men, 
among whom it numbers a membership of over a thou- 
sand. It is probably the pioneer among workingmen's 
clubs in this country, and the plan of management and 
the way it is conducted have served as models for similar 
enterprises, both in this country and in others. On the 
outskirts of the city there is also an open-air ground for 
baseball and other out-of-door games. 

St. John's Church owes its being to the secona manor- 
lord. The first Frederick Philipse was a member of the 



356 



The World's Greatest Street 



Reformed Dutch Church, but his grandson, having an 
English mother and being born and brought up in Bar- 
bados, became a devout member of the Church of England. 
During the greater part of colonial days, St. John's was 




- 'j 




YONKERS, GETTY SQUARE, HOLLYWOOD INN, AND ST. JOHN S CHURCH 



a part of the parish of Westchester, the rector of St. 
Peter's at Westchester borough town coming to the 
Yonkers once a month. The first church edifice was 
erected in 1752, under a legacy made by the second 
manor-lord, who had died the previous year. Colonel 
Philipse, his successor, supplemented the benefactions 
of his father and secured a glebe to the church, which 
remained as a mission until 1787 when it became a 
separate parish. Besides the rectors of St. Peter's at 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 357 

Westchester, from 1764 onwards, the church had its 
own ministers who were furnished by the Propagation 
Society in London; but the church still remained a part 
of Westchester parish. The first of these ministers was 
Harry Munro, the second was Luke Babcock, who main- 
tained the king's side so loyally that at the outbreak of 
the Revolution he was captured by a party of raiders 
and treated so inhumanly that he died from the effects 
of his ill-treatment. His widow was courted by Colonel 
Gist of the American forces, who used to visit her as 
often and as secretly as he could, with his force to protect 
him. This becoming known to the British, an elaborate 
plan was devised for his capture by Simcoe, Emmerick, 
and De Lancey, which only failed of bagging Gist and 
his whole command through the stupidity of some of the 
German mercenaries of the British. A third minister 
was George Panton ; but as his term was during the Revo- 
lution, he found his labors both unsatisfactory and 
dangerous. In 1791, the church edifice was destroyed 
by fire, but was rebuilt the following year. When the 
present edifice was erected in 1870, the people were so 
attached to the old building and its associations that as 
much as possible of it was incorporated in the new. 

The most interesting building in the city is the old 
manor-house of the Philipses, which was used as a city 
hall until 1909, when Mrs. Cochran, the widow of the 
philanthropist, secured it and turned it over to the local 
patriotic and historical societies for preservation. It 
bears the dates 1 682-1 882, they being placed there at 
the bi-centenary celebration in the latter year. The 
first manor-lord erected a strong stone building which 
was used as a trading post and mills, and which was called 
by Philipse the "lower mills." The present building, 
which has the original one incorporated with it, was built 



358 



The World^s Greatest Street 



by the second manor-lord in 1745. Workmen and 
materials were imported from England especially for 
the construction of the mansion; and the elaborate 
carvings and workmanship are visible to-day. Every 
kind of available tree and plant that would grow in this 
climate was imported and planted in the gardens, which 
reached down to the bank of the Hudson in a series of 




From a photograph 



PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE, YONKERS 



terraces. Some of the boxwood hedges were in 1830 ten 
feet high. Every person of distinction who visited the 
province was made welcome and entertained by the 
manor-lord. In the attic of the house, so it was said, 
there were quarters for fifty household servants alone; 
from which some idea may be gained of the lavish scale 
upon which these great landowners lived. Besides negro 
slaves, of which there were very few, the servants and 
employees consisted of bond-servants, or redemptioners. 
But these manor-lords were not landowners only; they 
were great merchants whose ships visited all parts of the 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 359 

world with which the navigation laws permitted them 
to trade and brought back the productions of every clime. 
Nor did they always obey these laws ; for it is a notorious 
fact that about one third of the colonial trade was contra- 
band, and that the great, noble, and wealthy merchants 
of all the colonies thought it no sin to cheat the king 
of his revenue whenever they could find or make the 
opportunity. In addition to their foreign trade, they 
carried on a fur trade with the Indians in the valley 
of the Mohawk and as far west as the French permitted 
them to go. 

In 1785, the commissioners of forfeiture appointed 
by authority of the state sold the confiscated estates of 
Colonel Philipse, preference in purchase being given to 
the old tenants of the manor lands. In this way the 
manor-house with three hundred and twenty acres sur- 
rounding it came into the possession of Cornelius P. 
Low, a merchant of New York, for fourteen thousand 
five hundred and twenty pounds. In 18 13, the property 
passed into the hands of Lemuel Wells, who died in- 
testate in 1842. His widow and heirs divided the prop- 
erty up into lots, and they were sold under orders of the 
Chancery Court. Five years later, the Hudson River 
Railroad was built, and Yonkers began to grow. It became 
a city in 1872, and it now has a population of over eighty 
thousand inhabitants. It is a great manufacturing city 
of varied industries, but the chief outputs are carpets, 
rugs, and hats. The power for many years was fur- 
nished by the Nepperhan River, which was dammed 
in several places. These dams were broken by the 
authorities in 1892 on the score of their being dan- 
gerous to the public health. Van der Donck had 
erected a saw-mill on the river, and the stream had 
been called de Zaag kill, or Sawmill River, by which 



360 The World's Greatest Street 

name it is better known to-day than by its Indian 
name of Nepperhan. 

We pass up a very steep hill in leaving Yonkers 
toward the north, where the highway is called North 
Broadway; this is on the flank of one of the numerous 
hills upon which the city is situated and which is called 
Boar, or Hog, Hill. The Americans encamped here 
upon numerous occasions during the Revolution when 
engaged in guerilla warfare, and in 1781, during the 
advance of the allied armies, it was the right of the Amer- 
ican line. The ancient road came into the control of 
the Highland Turnpike Company about 1806, which pro- 
ceeded to improve and straighten it, erecting gates and 
charging toll for its maintenance. It thus became known, 
not only as the Albany Post-road, but also as the High- 
land Turnpike, and so appears on many documents 
describing property or residence. 

Up to a few years ago, this portion of the road was 
bordered with the elegant mansions and estates of wealthy 
merchants and professional men, but the real-estate 
broker has taken possession and the suburban villa is 
rapidly appearing. The most famous of these estates 
was that of "Grey stone," the residence of Samuel J. 
Tilden, now the property of Samuel Untermeyer, a 
prominent lawyer of New York ; Untermeyer was credited 
with having received in January, 1910, the record fee 
of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a case 
upon which he had been engaged for two or three years. 

The next place through which Broadway passes is 
Hastings, a village in which there were some manufac- 
turing industries when it was first started in 1850, but 
which is now given over almost entirely to residential 
purposes. It is in the township of Greenburgh. Two 
incidents of the Revolution are recorded as happening 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 361 

here. After the fall of Fort Washington, six thousand 
troops under Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson at 
Hastings for an attack upon Fort Lee, which was evacu- 
ated in such haste by the Americans that they left 
much of their baggage behind them. The other incident 
occurred in Edgar's lane and probably gives rise to the 
story of the Headless Horseman, who, according to the 
legend, was a Hessian. Colonel Sheldon of the American 
army, hearing that a body of Hessians under Lieutenant 
Wurtz was coming out on a marauding expedition from 
Philipse's (Yonkers), placed his dragoons in ambush in 
the lane and awaited their approach. The Hessians 
were guided into the trap by a farmer of the neighbor- 
hood named Peter Post, who was afterwards maltreated 
by the enemy for his share in the affair. The Hessian 
dragoons, unaware of their danger, rode carelessly along; 
suddenly the Americans were upon them at full charge. 
Many of the Hessians were killed and wounded and several 
were driven into the river where they were drowned or 
captured. This was in the spring of 1777. 

Dobbs Ferry got its name from the fact that one 
of the tenants of the Philipses was a Swede named Jere- 
miah Dobbs, who added to his gains as a fisherman by 
ferrying people across the Hudson during colonial times. 
His ferry boat was a periauger, a large canoe or dugout 
made from a single tree. The name has been rather 
obnoxious to the wealthy residents of the place, and several 
attempts have been made to change it. As early as 1830, 
Van Brugh Livingston filed deeds under the name of 
Livingston's Landing, and the new name was used for 
probably thirty years ; but the old name would not down. 
In 1870, a calm, deliberative meeting was held to decide 
upon a new name for the village, and that of Paulding, 
one of the captors of Andre, was almost agreed upon 



362 



The World's Greatest Street 



when a gentleman arose and made a speech in a serious 
vein to the following effect. He said he was no worship- 
per of Dobbs ; he disliked that his home should be identi- 
fied with such a low place as a ferry; double names es- 
pecially were uncouth and undesirable ; and he had known 



'^''^^'J^ 




From a photograph 

PHILIP VAN BRUGH LIVINGSTON HOUSE, HEADQUARTERS OF WASHINGTON, 

DOBBS FERRY 

Paulding personally and could not brook him. Van 
Wart, who had also aided in the capture of Andre, was 
a Christian gentleman; he, therefore, moved that in- 
stead of calling the place Paulding-on-Hudson, that the 
Van of Van Wart be stricken off and the place be called 
" Wart-on-Hudson. " The speech gave such a ridiculous 
turn to the whole affair that the meeting broke up and 
nothing further was attempted at that time. The 
village was later incorporated under the name of the 
township, Greenburgh; but this name has had no better 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 363 

luck in supplanting the ancient name than did that of 
Livingston's Landing. 

On Broadway at Dobbs Ferry, we find an old fash- 
ioned house in front of which is a monument bearing 
in bold letters the names of Washington and Rochambeau. 
This is the Philip Van Brugh Livingston house, though 
the part of it referred to in the legend carved upon the 
stone is the rear part of the house. The legend states 
that in this house were the headquarters of Washington 
and that here he and the French commander, Rochambeau, 
planned their campaign against Yorktown, and that from 
this vicinity the allied armies took up the march. It 
states further that in 1783, the British commander-in- 
chief. Sir Guy Carleton, visited Washington under a 
flag of truce for the purpose of arranging with the latter 
the manner and date of the British evacuation of New 
York City; and further, that it was from this house that 
Washington, Governor Clinton, and the escort under 
General Knox took up the march down the post-road 
to re-enter the city of New York. 

The Indians located in this neighborhood were the 
Weckquaesgeeks, from whom Philipse bought the land; 
in consequence, it is described in his manor grant as 
the Weckquaesgeek tract. There is a good deal of 
Revolutionary history connected with Dobbs Ferry, 
as it is fairly within the famous "Neutral Ground" of 
the great struggle, and every place within that district 
was subjected to the raids and marauds of both sides. 
After the Westchester campaign of 1776, the Americans 
established a line of posts from the mouth of the Croton 
River eastward to the Sound to prevent the British from 
getting into the Highlands. The enemy established a 
similar line of posts in the neighborhood of the Harlem 
River, extending from Kingsbridge through Fordham, 



364 The World's Greatest Street 

Morrisania, Westchester, Eastchester, and Pell's Manor 
(Pelham). In the summer time, these were extended to 
Yonkers, Valentine's Hill, and New Rochelle. There was 
thus between the two armies a tract twenty miles wide 
which was not in the possession of either — this was the 
Neutral Ground. The Americans were commonly known 
as "the upper party" and the British as "the lower." 
In addition to the regular troops and militia of both 
sides, there were bands of land pirates, or bushwhackers, 
who, under the guise of patriotism or loyalty, robbed, 
burned, and destroyed with great impartiality, tortur- 
ing, and even murdering, anybody out of whom they 
thought it was possible to extort anything in the way of 
plunder. These predatory bands were called "Cow- 
boys" and "Skinners"; the former being the British, 
who, at least, did their work under some semblance of 
authorization, the latter being the Americans, who did 
their nefarious work without the semblance of consent, 
except tacit, on the part of the officers on the Hnes. 
These marauders could change their politics with great 
rapidity as occasion required.* 

Irvington is the next place through which the post- 
road passes. This constituted the Bissightick tract of 
the Philipsburgh manor; but its name is due to Washing- 
ton Irving, who lived here until his death, after his return 
from his embassy to Spain. "Sunnyside lane" leads 
down to the shore of the Hudson to one of the most 
famous homes in America, "Sunnyside," where the genial 
writer entertained his friends, who constituted all that 
was best in the American culture of the period. 

In an interesting letter of Irving's, dated Madrid, 
Oct. 18, 1842, he says: 

* See Cooper's The Spy. 




y 



i-^yi -<•,'«< V /^^ / ^ A. 



From the etching by J. D. Smillie 
WASHINGTON IRVING 

365 



366 The World's Greatest Street 

You ask me about my own movements; for many years 
I have made none, having built for myself a snug cottage 
near Sleepy Hollow, on the banks of the Hudson, which I 
stocked with young nieces, like a dove-cote, and lived there 
the happiest of old bachelors. ... In an evil hour, how- 
ever, the Government having got information, somehow or 
other, that I had wonderful talents for diplomacy, though in 
a latent state, threw the bait of an embassy at Madrid, like 
a gilded fiy, into my quiet retreat, and drew me out like a 
trout. 

Irving has entwined many legends about the old 
stone house with its irregular formation and high gables, 
"as full of angles and comers as an old cocked hat. It 
is said, in fact, to have been modelled after the cocked 
hat of Peter the Headstrong, as the Escorial was modelled 
after the gridiron of the blessed Saint Lawrence. " It 
was built, Irving states, by Wolfert Acker, a privy coun- 
cillor of Peter Stuyvesant, "a worthy, but ill-starred 
man, whose aim through life had been to live in peace 
and quiet." He sadly failed; for "it was his doom, in 
fact, to meet a head wind at every turn, and to be kept 
in a constant fume and fret by the perverseness of man- 
kind. Had he served on a modern jury, he would have 
been sure to have eleven unreasonable men opposed to 
him." He retired in disgust to this place, which was 
then a wilderness, built the gabled house and "inscribed 
over the door (his teeth clenched at the time) his favorite 
Dutch motto, 'Lust in Rust' (pleasure in quiet). The 
mansion was thence called Wolfert's Rust (Wolfert's 
Rest), but by the uneducated, who did not understand 
Dutch, Wolfert's Roost." 

Later, the chronicler goes on to say, the farm came 
into possession of Jacob Van Tassel, a valiant Dutchman 
who espoused the cause of the patriots. Of his exploits 




367 



368 The World's Greatest Street 

with his famous goosegun, you may read in the Sketch 
Book. The old house was the domicile of the blooming 
Katrina Van Tassel, beloved by the Yankee pedagogue, 
Ichabod Crane, and by the blustering, swaggering Brom 
Bones. It was from here that the unfortunate Ichabod, 
stuffed full of Dutch dainties and ghost stories, began 
that wonderful ride along Broadway in which he was 
to meet the Headless Horseman and forever disappear 
from the ken of men — all of which you may read in A 
Legend of Sleepy Hollow* 

Besides Irving, Westchester County along the Hudson 
has been the home at various times of many men and 
women who have been more or less connected with lit- 
erature, who found inspiration in the beautiful hills or 
from the lordly river. Among those resident at Yonkers 
were William Allen Butler, the distinguished lawyer 
and author of Nothmg to Wear, in which he pictures the 
distress of "Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square"; Dr. 
Dio Lewis, the famous physician and physical culturist; 
Mrs. E, D. E. N. Southworth, whose romantic novels 
were the "thrillers" of a certain portion of our reading 
public a generation ago, and Melville D. Landon, the 
humorist, who is best known under his pseudonym of 
"Eli Perkins," and whose death at Yonkers was noticed 
in the press of December 17, 1910. Another name con- 
nected with Yonkers is that of Frederick W. Cozzens, 
a retired wine merchant, who gave no indication of his 
literary ability until he had reached the half-century 
mark. He was the author of the ' * Sparrow Grass Papers, 
published in Putnam's Monthly, and became famous as a 
humorist. Perhaps there is something in the air of 
Yonkers that creates humor, for one of the most popular 

* See the part of this volume describing Kinderhook for the originals of 
these characters. 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 369 

of living humorists, John Kendrick Bangs, is also a 
resident of the place. He once ran for mayor, but was 
on the wrong side, the Democratic, and so suffered defeat; 
though the story he got out of his experience probably 
paid him better than the office would have done. Ad- 
miral David Glasgow Farragut, though not an author, 
succeeded very well in writing his name upon the scroll 
of fame ; he was a resident of Hastings at one time. John 
William Draper, M.D,, LL.D., the eminent chemist and 
physiologist and the writer of many books and treatises 
on these subjects, lived at Irvington before his death there 
in 1886. 

Jay Gould, the famous financier, was a resident of 
Tarrytown. We do not think of him as being a writer, 
yet in his younger days he was the author of a very good 
history of Delaware County. The upper part of the 
township of Mt. Pleasant, now called North Tarrytown, 
was especially favored by writers, among whom was 
General James Watson Webb, the veteran editor and 
journalist, whose house was at one time occupied by 
General John C. Fremont, the famous "Pathfinder" 
and the first candidate of the Republican party for the 
presidency. Another resident was Alexander Slidell 
McKenzie, the distinguished naval officer and author 
of lives of Paul Jones, Oliver H. Perry, and Stephen 
Decatur, as well as of other works. General Adam 
Badeau, author of The History of General U. S. Grant 
and Aristocracy in England, passed most of his boyhood 
here and was a resident until 1856; Commodore Matthew 
Calbraith Perry, who opened the ports of Japan to 
outside commerce, was a literary man in so far that he 
furnished the data for a history of his famous expedition ; 
A. C. Wheeler ("Nym Crinkle"), the poet and critic, 
also spent his boyhood here, and Hamilton W. Mabie, 



370 



The World's Greatest Street 



critic and essayist, lived for some time in North Tarry- 
town. Edward March Blunt, the distinguished navi- 
gator and author of Blunt' s Coast Pilot, now continued 
by the United States Hydrographic Office, was a resident 
of Sing Sing; and Henry Ward Beecher spent his summers 
at his country-place, "Boscobel, " at Peekskill. Albert 
Bierstadt, the famous artist of a generation or more ago, 




LYXDEHURST, HOME OF MISS HELEN M. GOULD 



had his home on the heights at Dobbs Ferry in a fine 
castellated mansion, which was destroyed by fire. 

Our route along Broadway passes the mansions and 
estates of wealthy residents who thus far have succeeded 
in keeping the trolley cars from the historic highway, 
the last effort in that direction being in opposition to a 
bill before the Legislature of 1910. To mention these 
owners would be to give a list of the greatest and best 
in the business, political, literary, and professional life 
of New York for several generations. The grounds 
are beautifully kept, and the houses are homes of comfort 
and refinement. There is one at which we must stop 



The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 371 

before entering the village of Tarrytown. It belongs 
at present to Miss Helen Miller Gould, whose patriotism 
was shown during the Spanish War and since by many 
acts of kindness for the benefit of the soldiers and sailors 
of the United States. The estate is called Lyndehurst, 
and was originally the home of Philip R. Paulding. 
While Philip Hone was driving through this section in 
1 84 1, he seems to have been impressed by the extrava- 
gance of the owner of "Paulding Manor," as the prop- 
erty was called when built in 1 840 ; for he calls it derisively 
"Paulding's Folly." In my boyhood days the estate 
was the property of a gentleman named Merritt and was 
called "Merritt's Folly," as the owner was deeply in- 
terested in horticulture and expended, so it is stated, 
over one hundred thousand dollars in the magnificent 
conservatories and greenhouses which still adorn the 
place, and to which Miss Gould kindly allows the public 
access on all days except Sundays. The property came 
into the possession of the late Jay Gould as a summer 
home, and at his death descended to his daughter. Be- 
sides the collections of ordinary plants from all the zones, 
there is here located what was for a long time the finest 
collection of orchids in the country. 

The name Tarrytown awakens thoughts of romantic 
and historic interest, for so many legends are attached 
to the locality. Once the scene of Revolutionary struggle 
and of easy Dutch life, it now contains the palatial 
homes of Standard Oil magnates and representatives 
of our modem industrial life and activities. The name 
Tarrytown is, itself, illusive. No one knows positively 
where it came from — probably from two brothers named 
Terry who were early settlers, though it is also said it 
came from "tarwe, " meaning wheat. But Irving, with 
that gentle humor which has accounted for so many 



3/2 The World's Greatest Street 

things in this valley of the Hudson which he so dearly 
loved, says that the village received its name from the 
fact that on sloop days the farmers of the neighborhood 
used to bring their produce to be shipped to New York, 
after which they tarried so long at the taverns that their 
wives called the place Tarrylown. So, for want of a 
better reason, we are obliged to accept Irving's. 

The Indians had one of their villages here near the 
mouth of the Pocantico, which they called Alipconck, 
or the "place of elms." They sold to Frederick Philip se 
in 1 68 1, and it is described in his manor grant as the 
Pocantico tract; but in colonial days it was known as 
"Philipse's. " The property descended to the first 
manor-lord's second son Adolphus; but as Adolphus 
was unmarried the Upper Yonkers went at his death 
to his nephew Frederick, the second manor-lord. Many 
affrays took place between the contending armies during 
the Revolution, one of which is marked by a bronze 
tablet on the railroad station; and the locality was occu- 
pied alternately by the troops of both sides; but the 
ancient earthworks have disappeared under modern 
improvements. On Mount de la Salle the Brothers of 
the Christian Schools have St. Joseph's Normal College 
for the training of teachers for the Catholic schools; 
and distributed along the hills are many private schools 
and military academies of the first class for both sexes. 

On the west side of the road, after we have passed 
the trolley line coming from White Plains, is a modest 
edifice, Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, upon the 
front of which is a tablet conveying the information that 
Washington Irving was for many years a communicant 
and warden of this church, and that "he fell asleep in 
Jesus, November 28, 1859." 



CHAPTER XV 

UPPER WESTCHESTER COUNTY 

FEW rods beyond Christ Church 
we come upon a monument on the 
west side of the road which com- 
memorates the patriotism of three 
sturdy yeomen and marks the spot 
of the beginning of one of the sad 
tragedies of the Revolution. The 
monument is of native marble 
and is surmounted by the bronze figure of a minute- 
man, resting upon his long rifle and looking with attention 
up the road as if watching the approach of a traveller. 
There is a bronze bas-relief on the base depicting the 
scene that the monument commemorates and several 
inscriptions on the sides. The one most interesting 
to visitors is that which reads: 




On this Spot 
the 22nd day of September, 1780, the Spy, 
Major John Andre, 
Adjutant General of the British Army, was cap- 
tured by 
John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart, 
all natives of this County. 
History has told the rest. 
373 



374 



The World's Greatest Street 



On the north side of the pedestal is another inscrip- 
tion: "Their conduct merits our warmest esteem. They 




irom a photograph by F. Ahrens 

MONUMENT TO THE CAPTORS OF ANDRE 

have prevented in all probability our suffering one of the 
severest strokes that could have been meditated against 
us. " — Washington, 

The monument was erected by the people of West- 
chester County and dedicated October 7, 1853, and was 



upper Westchester County 375 

remodelled as it now stands in 1880, the statue being 
given by one of the patriotic citizens of Tarrytown. At 
these latter ceremonies ex-Governor Samuel J. Tilden 
presided, a prayer was offered by the Reverend Alexander 
Van Wart, the only surviving son of the captor, and the 
oration was delivered by Chauncey M. Depew. 

Let us see briefly what history has told. A party 
of young men came down from the upper county on a 
scout during the night of the twenty-first, hoping to 
intercept some marauders on their way to the British 
lines. Three of them, the captors mentioned on the 
monument, kept on to the post-road, the rest of them 
remaining on the Bedford Road, which comes into 
Broadway a few rods above the monument. How this 
party on the Bedford Road failed to see and to stop 
Andre is a mystery. Upon reaching the post-road, two 
of the men began to play cards beside the bank of a small 
brook which here crosses the road, while the third took 
his post on the highway. The two playing cards were 
well screened by the bushes. They took turns acting 
as picket, and during the course of the morning there 
passed several persons whom they knew. A little before 
nine o'clock in the morning the tramp of a horse's feet 
was heard, and the two men in the bushes called to 
Paulding, who was on guard: ''Here comes a gentleman 
on horseback. He has his boots on. You 'd better 
stop him." As a key to what happened, it may be 
stated that Paulding had escaped from the New York 
prisons in the week preceding the capture, and that while 
there his coat had been taken by a German yager, who 
had given in exchange his own old green coat — the 
wearer was, therefore, in appearance one of the German 
mercenaries. 

At the approach of the mounted gentleman Paulding 



376 The World's Greatest Street 

presented his firelock and commanded him to stop. 
The horseman looked Paulding over for a moment, and 
probably supposing from the green yager coat that this 
was the British picket of whose presence on the Tarry- 
town Road he had been apprised, said: "God bless you, 
my lads, I hope you belong to our party." "Which 
party?" was asked. Without hesitation the gentleman 
replied: "Why! the lower party. I am a British officer; 
I have been up the country on important business and 
do not wish to be detained"; and pulled out his gold 
watch and showed it to them in order to convince them 
of the truth of his statement. Whereupon they replied: 
' ' We do not belong to the lower party ; we are Americans ; 
you are our prisoner." His face changed somewhat 
at this; but after he had dismounted, he came forward 
with a smile and said: "God bless my soul! A man must 
do anything these times to get along. Here is a pass 
from General Arnold. I am on his business ; and if you 
detain me, he will be angry." The pass was presented 
and was given to Paulding, the only one of the trio who 
could read. This is the pass: 

Head Quarters Robinson's House, Septr. 22nd, 1780. 
Permit Mr. John Anderson to pass the Guards to the White 
Plains, or below, if He Chuses, He being on Public Buisness 
by my Direction. 

B. Arnold, M. Genl. 

The pass appeared to be all right, and the yeomen 
were in doubt as to what they should do; when one of 
them said: "Let us take him into the bushes and search 
him." Their search revealed no weapon and no money, 
except some Continental bills. They then made him 
remove his boots, and there appeared a lump in one of 
his silk stockings; they made him remove the stocking 



Upper Westchester County 2>11 

and found three papers; then the other stocking was 
removed and three more papers were disclosed. Paulding 
saw that they were reports on army matters and ex- 
plained to the others. "My God!" they exclaimed, "he 
is a spy. " 

They then asked him what he would give them to 
let him go. He made several offers of merchandise, of 
his horse and watch and of money up to five hundred 
guineas; but they refused, and ordering him to mount, 
said they would take him to the nearest American out- 
post, which was at Sands' Mills above White Plains 
(the present Armonk). They testified that his face 
became very serious, and that during the whole journey 
drops of perspiration streamed down his face. Asked 
if he would escape if he had the chance, he said he would; 
whereupon they said grimly: "We '11 see that you don't 
get the chance"; and he made no attempt. 

Arrived at Sands' Mills, they turned their captive 
and his papers over to Lieutenant-Colonel Jamieson of 
Sheldon's Dragoons, whose lack of judgment under the 
circumstances was Httle short of criminal ; for he imme- 
diately wrote a note to Arnold apprising him of the cap- 
ture of Mr. Anderson, in whose possession had been found 
some papers of a very compromising tendency which 
the writer had sent on to the Commander-in-Chief, then 
conferring with the French officers at Hartford, Connecti- 
cut. At the same time that the note was sent, Anderson 
was also sent with an escort to Arnold's headquarters. 
In the evening Major Tallmadge arrived from duty at 
the White Plains, and upon being informed of the capture 
and of the appearance of the prisoner, at once came to 
the conclusion that he was a person of some importance 
and that Arnold was in the scheme, whatever it was. 
He at last prevailed upon Jamieson to recall the prisoner, 



378 The World's Greatest Street 

but could not persuade his superior to recall the note to 
Arnold. In consequence, the note reached Arnold while 
he was at breakfast with Hamilton, Lafayette, and others 
who had preceded the Chief on his return from Hartford. 
This gave Arnold the news of the capture of his agent, 
and, excusing himself on the plea of going across the 
river to West Point to meet Washington, he took a 
hurried farewell of his wife and infant child, rode to the 
boat landing, entered his barge and was rowed down 
the river to the British sloop-of-war Vulture, which had 
brought Andre up the river and which was awaiting his 
return. Arnold used his handkerchief as a flag of truce, 
went on board the vessel and disclosed his identity; 
upon which the Vulture returned with all speed to New 
York to let Sir Henry Clinton know of the capture of 
his beloved aid. Though the captain of the vessel was 
unwilling to do so, Arnold insisted upon having his 
boat's crew taken prisoners, and they were taken to 
New York with him, Clinton setting them at liberty 
immediately. 

The prisoner was brought back to Sands' Mills in a 
very dejected state of mind, as the express sent after the 
party had overtaken it at Peekskill, almost in sight of 
safety. Tallmadge now took charge of the prisoner, 
and with a large escort carried him farther within the 
county, as it was feared that an attempt at rescue would 
be made. While stopping in Sheldon's quarters in 
North Salem for orders, the captive asked for paper 
and ink and wrote a letter to Washington, disclosing 
his identity and telling how he came to be within the lines 
in disguise. Washington at once ordered a court- 
martial composed of eleven of the highest officers in the 
army, presided over by Nathanael Greene, who was 
famous for his kindness of heart. Upon Andre's own 




i fe 



379 



380 



The World's Greatest Street 



admissions before the court and his letter to Washington, 
he was adjudged a spy and amenable to the law of nations. 
He was hanged at Tappan on October second in the 
presence of the whole army, hardly a man of which 







UPPER MILLS OF FREDERICK PHILIPSE (1682), NORTH TARRYTOWN 

could refrain from tears at the sight of the ignominious 
death of the handsome, brilliant, and engaging young 
fellow. From the time of his capture until the time of 
his death, he was treated with the greatest consideration 
and sympathy; and unofficially an attempt was made to 
exchange him for Arnold, which, of course, Clinton would 
not and could not do. 

A short distance above the monument the road de- 
scends a steep hill and crosses the Pocantico, a pretty 



upper Westchester County 381 

stream which comes down from the Westchester Hills. 
The post-road passed originally along the hill, crossing 
the Pocantico east of the church; but the building of 
the first Croton aqueduct between 1835 and 1840 caused 
the change in the road to its present location. The old 
bridge over which Ichabod Crane swept in his mad 
flight from the Headless Horseman was a short distance 
up the stream from the present crossing. Below the 
bridge are the "upper mills" of the Philipses, which date 
from 1682. Here, also, is an ancient stone house, part 
of which dates from the same period; for Philipse owned 
this land long before he received his manor patent and 
did considerable trading with the Indians, whose village 
of Alipconck was near the mouth of the stream. The 
older part of the house is of great strength, and is loop- 
holed for defence. The old mill-pond can still be plainly 
seen, though the dam is broken; but the ancient mill 
was fast going to decay the last time I was there. It 
had stood the stress of more than two centuries of use, 
but could not stand a half century of non-use. The 
first manor-lord was a carpenter by trade, and the old 
mill showed his ability to construct a serviceable build- 
ing; the beams, studding, and rafters are all hewed 
timbers, put together with wooden trenails. The old 
trading house was known as "Philipse's castle." After 
the confiscation of the manor, the property was sold to 
Gerard G. Beekman, and later passed into the hands of 
Ambrose C. Kingsland, a wealthy grocer of New York 
and Mayor in 1851, being elected against Fernando 
Wood. Later, the property belonged to one of the old- 
time great merchants of New York, William H. Aspin- 
wall, who was interested in the building of the railway 
across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting Panama and 
Colon, the latter of which was renamed Aspinwall in 



382 



The World's Greatest Street 



honor of the railroad builder. The property has been 
in the possession of one of the great automobile companies 
for several years, whose extensive works are situated 
near the end of the point. 

Opposite the Kingsland Point property and just 
north of the bridge, is the oldest church edifice in the 
State of New York, the famous Sleepy Hollow Church. 
When it was built is not known, though a tablet on the 



*ii»^ 







philipse's castle, tarrytown 



side of the door states: "Erected and built by Frederic 
Philipse and Catherine Van Cortlandt, his wife, in 1699." 
The church edifice was remodelled in 1837, ^^^ it is 
likely that the tablet was placed at that time when the 
entrance and other parts of the church were changed 
about, and that a guess was made at the date. The 
original bell still hangs in the belfry and bears the date 
1685, and the motto in Latin: ''Si deus pro nobis quis 
contra nos?'' (If God be with us, who can be against us?) 
The weather vane on the belfry bears the monogram 
"VF, " standing for the Dutch spelling of the manor- 



Upper Westchester County 



383 



lord's name, Vredry'-k Flypsen. The weight of evidence 
is that the edifice was erected not later than the date on 
the bell, 1685; and that in all probability it was erected 
several years earlier. 

This section was settled very early by the Dutch, as 



V:*'*^-- '^"^ '•'^■'■"??i?^^'*f^'' 




SLEEPY HOLLOW CHURCH AT NORTH TARRYTOWN 



is shown by the fact that one of the reasons given by 
De Vries to Kieft in 1641 for not making war on the 
Weckquaesgeeks was that there were so many settlers 
in this neighborhood whose cattle ran on the hills and 
who would be in danger in the event of war. Upon 
several occasions it has been necessary to remove the 
floor of the church for repairs, and several coffins have 
been exposed bearing dates between 1650 and 1660. The 
first known preacher was Dominie Guillaume Bartholf 



384 The World's Greatest Street 

who came here several times a year from Hackensack, 
beginning in 1697. The church records date from the 
same year, but they were not regularly kept until 171 5. 
Dutch was the language used in the services and 
records until after the Revolution, and the first use 
of English in baptizing a little girl on September 25, 
1785, raised a storm of indignation. The Reformed 
Dutch Church held, in 1899, a bi-centenary celebra- 
tion here, at which Governor Theodore Roosevelt was 
present. 

Adjoining the church edifice, is the famous Sleepy 
Hollow Cemetery, in which are a number of old Dutch 
burials ; though the larger part of the cemetery is modern 
and owned by a company incorporated in 1849 under 
the name of The Tarrytown Cemetery, but changed later 
at the earnest solicitation of Washington Irving, before 
his death in 1859, to The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Many 
old tombstones can be deciphered, but the first object 
every visitor has in view is the grave wherein lies all 
that is mortal of the genial humorist and kindly gentle- 
man who has peopled the valley of the Hudson with the 
children of his imagination — Washington Irving. On 
Battle Hill, is a monument to the Revolutionary soldiers 
of the vicinity, and among the graves will be found many 
belonging to soldiers of the Civil War. 

As we leave the last resting-place of the genial writer, 
so loved by his own generation, there recur to our minds 
the delightful lines of Lowell — the only lines in A Fable 
for Critics which do not contain a sting: 

What! Irving? thrice welcome, warm heart and fine brain, 
You bring back the happiest spirit from Spain, 
And the gravest sweet humor that ever were there 
Since Cervantes met death in his gentle despair; 



Upper Westchester County 385 

Nay, don't be embarrassed, nor look so beseeching, 

I sha'n't run directly against my own preaching, 

And, having just laughed at their Raphaels and Dantes, 

Go to setting you up beside matchless Cervantes; 

But allow me to speak what I honestly feel, — 

To a true poet-heart add the fun of Dick Steele, 

Throw in all of Addison, minus the chill, 

With the whole of that partnership's stock and good-will, 

Mix well, and while stirring, hum o'er as a spell, 

The fine old English gentleman, simmer it well, 

Sweeten just to your own private liking, then strain. 

That only the finest and clearest remain, 

Let it stand out of doors till a soul it receives 

From the warm lazy sun loitering down through green leaves, 

And you '11 find a choice nature, not wholly deserving 

A name either English or Yankee, — just Irving. 

Continuing our route over the post-road, we pass 
under the arch of the Croton aqueduct and through the 
residential village of Scarborough. A fine church of 
native marble has been erected here as a memorial of 
the late Elliott F. Shepard, a son-in-law of William H. 
Vanderbilt and proprietor of the New York Mail and 
Express, who had an extensive estate in this vicinity. 
To the west, on the river bank, is the little village of 
Sparta, whose ancient burial-ground still exists. There 
is a tradition that the Vulture mistook the gravestones 
for an American fortification and fired upon them on 
that memorable morning in September, 1780, when 
Arnold and Andre were in consultation at the house of 
Joshua Hett Smith on Treason Hill at Haverstraw. 
Sparta is also the birthplace of Rear-Admiral John L. 
Worden of the United States Navy, who, as a lieutenant, 
commanded the Monitor in her historic fight with the 
Merrimac in Hampton Roads — a fight that revolu- 



386 The World's Greatest Street 

tionized naval architecture in its relation to war 
vessels. 

We pass into the township of Ossining, which we find 
to be a very hilly place. It was occupied in the early 
days by the Sint Sinck Indians, and the brook coming 
down from the high hills was known as the Sint Sinck 
kill. When the Dutch and the English settled in this 
locality after Frederick Philipse bought it in 1680, they 
very naturally took the name of the brook, and the place 
became, in time, Sing Sing. The Indian village was 
called by the aborigines Ossining, which, according to 
Schoolcraft, means "the stony place"; and that applies 
very well indeed to this section. Dolomite limestone 
of excellent quality is found here which can be used for 
building purposes or which can be burnt for lime. In 
pre-Revolutionary days, a silver mine was worked here, 
and in 1820, a copper mine was operated near the village 
of Sparta; but neither has paid, though several attempts 
have been made at various times to open up the old 
shafts. 

In 1824, the Legislature authorized the construction 
of a prison in one of the lower Senatorial districts, and 
this spot was selected on account of its healthfulness, 
its accessibility to New York and above by the river 
boats, and to the limestone mentioned above. In 1825, 
one hundred convicts were brought here, and the work 
of building the prisons begun; they were ready for occu- 
pancy in 1828, and the convicts were removed from the 
old Newgate in Greenwich Village in New York City. 
All the work in and about the prison since that time has 
been done by the prisoners; and most of it has been 
excellent, as there have been among the inmates, artists, 
sculptors, and skilled workers in wood, stone, iron, and 
plaster. The prison is known officially as the Mount 



upper Westchester County 387 

Pleasant Prison, as this section used to be in that town- 
ship. For two or three years past, gangs of convicts 
have been clearing the land for new prisons on the west 
side of the Hudson, which work was halted in January, 
1910, by the gift of Mrs. E. H. Harriman, the widow 
of the great railway magnate, and of others, which makes 
a great State public park possible in the section which 
includes that chosen for the new prison. Another site, 
therefore, was selected. 

In June, 1910, the State bought a five-hundred-acre 
farm at Wingdale in Putnam County, paying for it the 
sum of fifty thousand dollars, which was considered a 
bargain price. The farm was sold several months before 
for seventeen thousand dollars, and bought up by specu- 
lators for twenty-five thousand and sold at the above 
price to the State. Oh, yes; the State got a bargain! 

Until 1900, the principal village of the township 
bore the name of Sing Sing; but the associations with 
the name of the prison rather hindered the growth of 
the village, and so its name was changed to that of the 
town, Ossining. 

Three miles of rough, hilly roadway bring us to the 
Croton River, the northern boundary of the Manor of 
Philipsburgh. The Indian name of the stream was the 
Kitchawan, and the Indians of this locality were known 
as the Kitchiwonks. The old road crossed the Croton 
at a ford farther up the stream ; later, came a ferry, and, 
in 1 791, the bridge mentioned in Washington's diary. 
Theodore Dwight, travelling through this section on 
horseback in 181 1, speaks of the roads as being bad, 
and states that he crossed the Croton near its mouth 
on a wretched ferry, worked by a woman, the ferry-boat 
being connected with each bank of the stream by a chain. 
A long bridge now crosses the stream not far from its 



388 The World's Greatest Street 

mouth; and about a mile above it is the great new dam 
which impounds the waters of the river for the use of 
the inhabitants of the city of New York, nearly forty 
miles away. On the northern bank of the Croton is 
the ancient manor-house of the Van Cortlandts, bearing 
the date 1681, A Van Cortlandt built it then, and a 
Van Cortlandt occupies it to-day. 

The house was originally forty feet by thirty-three, 
containing eight rooms, and was built of Nyack freestone, 
loopholed for the use of firearms in the event of an attack 
by the natives. At first, it was used as a trading-post 
by Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the purchaser of land from 
the natives and the manor-lord of Van Cortlandt Manor, 
which comprised in Westchester County alone over eighty- 
seven thousand acres of land. The house commanded 
the ferry across the mouth of the river, a few yards 
away. The sloops and sailing vessels used to sail up the 
river beyond the manor-house until 1841, when the Croton 
dam, then nearing completion, was swept away by a 
freshet and great quantities of earth were swept down, 
filling up so much of the stream as to prevent navigation. 
Where vessels used to ride at anchor, there are now many 
acres of fine meadow land. Henry Hudson made his first 
anchorage off the mouth of the Croton after leaving 
Yonkers. 

As times became more settled, the younger members 
of the Van Cortlandt family resorted to the Kitchawan 
for hunting, and the house was enlarged and rendered 
more habitable. Stephanus, the first and only manor- 
lord, left eleven children, among whom his property 
was divided in 1734, thirty-four years after his death. 
The survey was made by his grandson-in-law, Philip 
Verplanck, who uses the term " Croton' s River" as if 
it were a common and familiar one. The river may have 



390 The World's Greatest Street 

gotten its name from Indian sources, or from some tenant 
living along its banks. 

In 1774, the house was in the possession of Pierre 
Van Cortlandt, a great-grandson of the manor-lord. 

In this year, Governor Tryon came to Croton, ostensibly 
on a visit of courtesy, bringing with him his wife, a daughter 
of the Hon. John Watts, a kinsman of the Van Cortlandts, 
and his secretary, Colonel Fanning, The next morning 
Governor Tryon proposed a walk. They all proceeded to one 
of the highest points on the estate, and, pausing, Tryon 
announced to the listening Van Cortlandt the great favors that 
would be granted to him if he would espouse the royal cause 
and give his adherence to the king and the parliament. Large 
grants of land would be added to his estates, and Tryon hinted 
that a title would be bestowed. Van Cortlandt answered 
that he was chosen representative to the Colonial Assembly 
by unanimous approbation of a people who placed confidence 
in his integrity, to use all his ability for the good of his country 
as a true patriot, which Hne of conduct he was determined to 
pursue. 

The discomfited Tryon returned to New York, and 
the patriotic Van Cortlandt, who had so much to lose 
in the event of British success, threw in his lot with 
the patriots and served them faithfully as their repre- 
sentative in the Provincial Congress, as President of 
the Council of Safety and as Lieutenant-Governor of the 
State from 1777 to 1795. He was also President of the 
State Constitutional Convention. His son Philip was an 
officer in the Continental army, and was on Sullivan's 
punitive expedition against the Six Nations after the 
massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley. He was 
brevetted brigadier-general for meritorious conduct in 
the siege of Yorktown. 



upper Westchester County 



391 



It was here at the mouth of the Croton that the 
Americans had the westernmost of their posts to pre- 
vent the British from getting through to the upper 
county and to the Highlands. Washington writes under 
date of July 2, 1781, of "the new bridge of the Croton, 




PEEKSKILL BAY 



about nine miles from Peekskills." The ferry-house 
then became a barracks for the soldiers; and here, in 
the middle of the winter of 1782, they were surprised 
and routed by a body of the enemy which came up from 
below. The manor-house itself is full of relics of almost 
inestimable value, while the historic associations that 
cluster around it are possessed by few other houses in 
America. Franklin, Rochambeau, Lafayette, Steuben, 



392 The World's Greatest Street 

de Lauzan, and almost the whole roster of the American 
generals were welcome and honored guests; nor must we 
leave out Brant, the famous Mohawk chief, who visited 
here after the peace and during his stay told Colonel 
Van Cortlandt how near the latter had been to death 
by the chief's direction at the battle of the Chemung. 
" Had I taken a shot at you myself," said Thayandanagea, 
"instead of directing one of my warriors to do so, you 
would not have been here to be my host." A plate on 
the porch marks the spot upon which stood the great 
preacher, George Whitefield, when he addressed the mul- 
titude on the lawn below. Bishop Asbury also preached 
from the same porch. There is also a haunted room in 
the ancient house ; and the clandestine marriage of Colonel 
Pierre Van Cortlandt's first wife may have furnished the 
basis of Mrs. Amelia Barr's Bow of Orange Ribbon. 

Croton Landing, or Croton-on-Hudson, formerly 
Collaberg Landing, lies above the manor-house; its 
chief industry is brick-making. Between the manor- 
house and Croton are Teller's Point — also called Sarah's 
Point after Sarah, the wife of the first settler, William 
Teller, and Croton Point. It was abreast of this point 
that the Vulture lay at anchor and aroused the animosity 
of the American soldiers, who brought a cannon down 
from Peekskill and fired on the vessel. Andre was ashore 
having his interview with Arnold, intending to return 
to the Vulture; but the vessel was obliged to drop down 
stream to escape the fire of the patriots, and thus Andre 
was compelled to return to New York by land with such 
tragic results. To the eastward of Croton is a hill six 
hundred feet high, which is known as Hessian Hill, from 
the fact that a body of these troops was at one time en- 
camped there, many of whom deserted their colors to 
join the Americans. 



394 The World's Greatest Street 

The post-road passes on through Oscawanna, Crugers, 
and Montrose and we pass a number of fine estates. 
Verplanck's Point, with its brick-making industries, 
lies to the west. Here in colonial days was the King's 
Ferry, the principal line of communication across the 
Hudson, connecting New England with the Jerseys; so 
that its possession was of vast importance to the Ameri- 
cans. In those old days, a sign at the junction of the 
ferry road and Broadway read: "Dishe his de Roode toe 
de Kehings Farry, " a curious compound of Dutch, 
English, and bad spelling that must have aroused the 
laughter of Andre, if it were not too dark to see it, as he 
rode by it in company with Joshua Hett Smith on the 
afternoon or evening of the twenty-first of September, 
1780. The point gets its name from Philip Verplanck, 
who married the granddaughter of the manor-lord and 
came into possession of it through his wife. 

Directly opposite to it on the other side of the Hudson, 
is Stony Point. Fortifications were erected on both sides 
of the river to command the ferry ; and these passed back 
and forward several times during the course of the war. 
In the summer of 1782, the French army came north from 
Virginia and was received with great honors by the 
Americans at Verplanck's Point. Under the direction 
of Baron Steuben and with the supplies furnished by 
Louis XVI., the Continental army had become so well 
clothed, equipped, and disciplined as to call forth from 
the Comte de Rochambeau the remark : ' ' You must have 
formed an alliance with the King of Prussia; these troops 
are Prussians." This was no doubtful compliment, as 
the troops of Frederick the Great were the best in the 
world. 

Above Verplanck's Point, the river, after its exit 
from the Highlands, opens into a beautiful bay known 



upper Westchester County 395 

as Peekskill Bay. Henry Hudson thought he had reached 
the end of his voyage when he reached this point, but he 
finally discovered the passage through the mountains 
and continued on his way as far as the site of Albany. 
From the highway we get a view of the lower town of 
Peekskill near the landing, with its various industries, 
especially those in iron, which were started about a 
century ago. Across the river is a magnificent panorama 
of the Highlands. 

The Kitchiwonks had a village in this vicinity which 
they called Sackhoes ; but the white settlement that grew 
up about it was called Peekskill, after one of the earliest 
settlers, Jan Peek, through whose property flowed a 
highland brook, called Jan Peek's kill. 

Jan Peck, or Peeck, according to the records of the 
court of New Amsterdam for 1 653, was a tapster doing 
business on the Heere Straat. He appears to have been 
a somewhat disreputable character; for in that year he 
was proceeded against by Sheriff Van Tienhoven, who 
reports : 

that he has found drinking clubs on divers nights at the house 
of Jan Peck with dancing and jumping and entertainment of 
disorderly people; also tapping during Preaching, and that 
there was great noise made by drunkards, especially yester- 
day, Sunday, in this house, so that he was obliged to remove 
one to jail in a cart, which was a most scandalous affair. 

Peck was found guilty, though he did not appear 
to answer the charges; and upon the demand of the 
sheriff, he was fined, his license annulled and he was or- 
dered to stop tapping until he had vindicated himself. 
Peck petitioned at the next meeting of the court for 
permission to tap; and later, at his request, both oral 
and written, he was allowed to resume business, "inas- 



396 



The World's Greatest Street 



much as he is burthened with a houseful of children and 
more besides." The judge took into consideration that 
he was an old Burgher and permitted him to resume upon 
his promise to comport himself properly; but if he did 
not do so, his business was to be stopped without favor 
and himself punished as he deserves. At a later time, 




THE SETH POMEROY MONUMENT AT CORTLANDTVILLE 

after his death, his widow was banished for repeating 
his offences. Had it not been for his purchase of the 
land on the Hudson, he would probably have been un- 
known to fame. 

During the Revolution, the main army of the colonies 
was kept in this neighborhood, and Washington, himself, 
was not long away from it, as the Highlands commanded 



upper Westchester County 397 

the valley of the Hudson and here was the principal line 
of communication between the colonies. If the British 
could get the valley of the Hudson, they had the rebellion 
throttled, as the colonies would be divided and could not 
act in concert. Many fortifications were erected by the 
Americans in this vicinity and above, and many were the 
attempts made by the British to get possession ; when force 
failed in getting hold of this vital point, Clinton tried 
bribery, with results that would have been fatal to the 
American cause, had it not been for the patriotism of 
three ignorant yeomen who, as we have already seen, 
stopped the agent of Clinton and prevented the treason 
of Arnold from attaining its completion. Among the 
American commanders were Seth Pomeroy, Heath, 
McDougal, Putnam, and Arnold, the last being again 
followed by Heath, who commanded during the Chief's 
campaign in the South. 

Fort Independence was located at Roa Hook, and 
a chain was stretched across the river at this point; it 
was easily broken by its own weight and the force of 
the tides ; the later chain was farther up the river between 
Constitution Island and West Point. In 1885, the state 
bought Roa Hook for a camp of instruction for the 
national guard. For many years it was so used; but 
within the last few years, since the passage of the so- 
called Dick bill, the militia of the several states have 
become virtually a part of the regular army and unite 
with it in annual manoeuvres, and the state camp has 
not been used. It was proposed to utilize it for the site 
of the new prison which is to take the place of Sing Sing. 

About three miles north of Peekskill, on the creek, 
is Cortlandtville, where the original village of Peekskill 
was located. It belonged to Cortlandt Manor, and the 
old house ©f the Van Cortlandts, much modernized, is 



398 



The World's Greatest Street 



still standing. It bears a tablet, which, besides describing 
the services of its owner. Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt, 
says: "General Washington with his aides slept in this 
house many nights while making Peekskill their head- 
quarters, in 1776, 1777 and 1778." At Cortlandtville, 
is St. Peter's Church, a barn-like structure which dates 




ST. PKTF.R S fUrKCH AND IWILDINC. MOM'Ml-AT AT CORTLANDTVILLE 

from 1763. Surrounding it is the ancient cemetery, in 
which lie two distinguished personages of the Revolution, 
Seth Pomeroy and John Paulding. The former was the 
first commander of the minute men who gathered at 
Cambridge upon the news of Lexington, and who was 
the commander of the Highland military post at the 
time of his death, February 15, 1777. Though his grave 



upper Westchester County 399 

is unknown, the Sons of the Revolution have erected 
within the cemetery a handsome monument commemor- 
ating his services both in the Revolution and in the old 
French war. John Paulding was one of the captors of 
Andre, and the city of New York erected a suitable 
monument over his grave in 1827. 

Gallows Hill gets its name from the execution of 
Edmund Palmer, a British spy, who was hanged there 
on August 7, 1777. The British commander in New 
York was anxious to save the man and wrote to Putnam, 
who then commanded in the Highlands, demanding his 
surrender and threatening reprisals in the event of his 
execution. Putnam returned the following characteristic 
reply: 

Headquarters, 7th August, 1777. 
Sir: Edmund Palmer, an ofRcer in the enemies service, 
was taken as a spy lurking within the American lines. He has 
been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and shall be executed 
as a spy ; and the flag is ordered to depart immediately. 

Israel Putnam. 
P.S. He has been accordingly executed. 

Just east of the Van Cortlandt house the post-road 
turns north to enter the Highlands, where one of the 
ancient milestones, marked "50 miles from N. Y.," 
still stands. There are occasional milestones on the 
west side of the road as far as Wappingers Falls, but 
the post-road has degenerated into a mere track a short 
distance above, the Highland turnpike having taken its 
place.* Several old houses still remain in this vicinity, 
among them Dusenberry's Tavern, where Major Andre 
and his escort stopped while on their way to West Point. 

* During the past year these old milestones have been reset and cared 
for by the Putnam County Historical Society. 



400 



The World's Greatest Street 



Andre was within a few miles of Arnold's headquarters 
and safety, when the express sent by Jamieson arrived, 
and Andre was taken back to North Salem; Lieutenant 
Allen continued on through the Highlands with the note 




DUSENBERRY S TAVERN, CORTLANDTVILLE, N. Y. 

to Arnold who was thus warned of the capture of his 
confederate and escaped. 

Continental Village stood about a mile north of 
Gallows Hill, in Putnam County. Great quantities of 
supplies were gathered here for the American Army and 
barracks were erected to accommodate fifteen hundred 
men. In October, 1777, Governor Tryon captured and 
burnt Peekskill and then pushed on to Continental 
Village, which he destroyed so thoroughly that nothing 
remains of it to-day, though it was again occupied by 
the Americans. In the spring of 1781, about fifteen 
years before Jenner made his successful experiments 
in vaccination, all the troops and others stationed here 



Upper Westchester County 401 

were inoculated with the small-pox. "All the soldiers, 
with the women and children," wrote the army surgeon 
Dr. Thacher, in his diary, "who have not had the small- 
pox, are now under inoculation." "Of five hundred 
who were inoculated here," he wrote later, "only four 
have died," 

After the Revolution, Peekskill became the shipping 
point of farm produce to the city of New York, not only 
from the immediate vicinity, but from northwestern 
Connecticut and from Putnam (Dutchess) County. 
Six sloops were regularly engaged in the traffic to New 
York; and later, when the steamboats began to ply the 
river, the landing was removed from the mouth of Anns- 
ville Creek to the easterly side of the bay and Peekskill 
began to be an important commercial point; later, the 
railroad added to its importance. 

My heart is on the hills. The shades 

Of night are on my brow; 
Ye pleasant haunts and quiet glades. 

My soul is with you now! 
I bless the star-crowned Highlands, where 

My Ida's footsteps roam: 
Oh, for a falcon's wing to bear 

Me onward to my home! 

George P. Morris. 

A couple of miles, or less, above the centre of the 
present village of Peekskill, the post-road, here called 
Highland Avenue, plunges down a steep hill across 
Annsville Creek and disappears within the Highlands. 
These mountains are picturesque and impressive at all 
times; but when Nature paints them with her autumnal 
tints, words fail in describing their beauty, and no artist 
26 



402 



The World's Greatest Street 



can do full justice to their grandeur. Just before 
crossing Annsville Creek, we get a view of the bold 
promontory of Anthony's Nose, jutting out into the 
distant river. This is the northwestern corner of West- 




!,_-... .^j*:*.. ^ 




ANNSVILLE CREEK — WHERE BROADWAY ENTERS THE HIGHLANDS 

Chester County and the highest point in it — one thousand 
two hundred and twenty-eight feet. It probably re- 
ceived its name from its resemblance to a gigantic, 
human nose; but Irving is on hand to tell the origin of 
its name. 




403 



404 The World's Greatest Street 

He says: 

And now I am going to tell a fact, which I doubt much my 
readers will hesitate to believe ... It must be known then 
that the nose of Anthony the trumpeter was of a very lusty 
size, strutting boldly from his countenance like a mountain of 
Golconda, being sumptuously bedecked with rubies and other 
precious stones — the true regalia of a king of good fellows, 
which jolly Bacchus presents to all who bouse it heartily at the 
flagon. Now thus it happened, that bright and early in the 
morning, the good Anthony, having washed his burly visage, 
was leaning over the quarter railing of the galley, contem- 
plating it in the glassy wave below. Just at this moment, the 
illustrious sun, breaking in all his splendor from a high bluff 
of the Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams 
full upon the refulgent nose of the sounder of brass — the 
reflection of which shot straightway down hissing hot into the 
water and killed a mighty sturgeon that was sporting beside 
the vessel . . . When this astonishing miracle became known 
to Petrus Stuyvesant, and that he tasted of an unknown fish, 
he, as well may be supposed, marvelled exceedingly; and as a 
monument thereof, he gave the name of Anthony's Nose to 
a stout promontory in the neighborhood, and it has continued 
to be called Anthony's Nose ever since that time. 



CHAPTER XVI 



PUTNAM AND DUTCHESS COUNTIES 




'HE county of Putnam, named after 
the famous "Old Put" of Revolu- 
tionary days, was formerly a part 
of the county of Dutchess, from 
which it was separated in 1812. 
Almost all of the county is com- 
prised within the patent granted to 
Adolphus Philipse on June 17, 1697. 
As Adolphus was a bachelor, the property went at his 
death in 1749 to his nephew, Frederick Philipse, 
the manor-lord of Yonkers, and to his nieces, Susanna, 
who married Colonel Beverly Robinson, and Mary, 
who married Colonel Roger Morris. The property of all 
three was confiscated by the State of New York on ac- 
count of the owners remaining loyal to the king during 
the Revolutionary struggle. Before being set off as 
a separate county, the land had been the precinct of 
Philipstown in Dutchess County. 

As to the availability of this land for settlement and 
cultivation, we have the statement of Governor Hunter 
to the Lords of Trade in 1720: 

Part of the resumed grant of Captain Evans being about 
twelve miles along the River, Mountainous and barren and 

405 



4o6 



The World's Greatest Street 



Incapable of Improvement or of a road and only valuable for 

fire- wood, no man will accept any part of it under the Quit 
Rent directed to be reserved unless it be contiguous to the 
River, where he may with ease transport the wood. 

Lieutenant-Governor Golden to the Lords of Trade, 
February 14, 1738: "At about forty miles northward 



Rombout's Patent. 



Beekman's Patent. 



Major Morris' 








Col. Robinson's 




Water Lot. 








Back Lot, 




Four Miles 


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Four Miles 




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Capt. Frederick 


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Capt. Philipse's 






Philipse's 


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Four Miles 


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Square. 





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Northern Line of Westchester County. 
DIVISION MAP OF THE HIGHLAND PATENT OF ADOLPHUS PHILIPSE 



from the city of New York a chain of mountains about 
12 miles in breadth, Gommonly called the Highlands 
Gross the Hudson's River running many miles from the 
North East." He also speaks of the different varieties 
of trees as far as Albany, and especially of the pines. 

Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey reports as follows 
under date of 1757: "This country abounds in Iron Oar 
especially in the Highlands and several works have been 
begun but were droped through the mismanagement or in- 
ability of the undertakers; of these there were two Furnaces 
in the Manor of Gortlandt and several Bloomeries. " 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 407 

The Highland section through which the post-road 
passes is, therefore, rather sparsely settled. The trees 
have furnished fuel and charcoal for the great city, and 
the hills have furnished ore for the foundries which 
have been located at Cold Spring for over a century. 
Other minerals are believed to exist in these hills; and 
in colonial days several settlers claimed to have dis- 
covered silver, which they converted into coin, and, in 
consequence, suffered death for counterfeiting. The 
remoteness of this section would naturally recommend 
itself to those engaging in illicit pursuits. 

The first entrance to the Highlands was by way of 
Cortlandtville, near which Colonel Beverly Robinson 
established the first grist-mill in 1762. The earliest 
known settler was John Rogers, who built a large house 
about two miles north of the site of Continental Village 
in 1730. At that time, an Indian path only, or trail, 
led from Westchester through the Highlands to Fishkill. 
Rogers kept a tavern on this path; and any traveller 
who arrived at the house by the middle of the afternoon 
was bound to stop all night, owing to the danger of 
travelling through the Highlands after dark and the 
difficulty of threading such a wild, mountainous, and 
solitary path. Rogers continued to keep his tavern 
through the French wars. It was about 1754 that Lord 
Louden, the British commander, marched through the 
Highlands with his troops to attack the French on the 
frontier. For the transportation of his guns and wagons, 
he was obliged to construct a road; this he did by fol- 
lowing the general direction of the old Indian path, which 
thus became the post-road leading through Nelsonville 
to Fishkill. Later, the Highland Turnpike Company 
built Highland Avenue through Annsville and up the 
heart-breaking Nelson's hill, thence diverging through 



4o8 



The World's Greatest Street 



Nelsonville and to Cold Spring. It is only within a 
decade that a newer road through the valley to the east 
of the hill has been constructed and the steep hill avoided. 
The fact that these hills once were inhabited by wild 
cats is perpetuated in the name of "Cat hill," once the 




Courtesy of Putnam County Historical Society 

THE BEVERLY HOUSE 

This house, famous as the scene of Arnold's treason, was unfortunately 
destroyed by fire a few years ago. 



resort of that species of animals. The crotalus, or 
rattlesnake, also found its habitat among these solitudes. 
After we have passed Nelson's hill, we may make a 
detour to Garrisons, which is not, strictly speaking, on 
the great highway; but the associations are too strong 
to resist. Here was the Beverly Robinson house, built 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 409 

by that manorial proprietor in colonial times and occu- 
pied frequently as headquarters by the commander of 
West Point and its dependencies in the Highlands. It 
was Arnold's headquarters on that fateful day in Sep- 
tember, 1780, when Lieutenant Allen gave him Jamieson's 
note apprising him of the capture of his confederate, 
Mr. John Anderson. Excusing himself to his guests, 
Lafayette, Hamilton, Knox, and others, on the plea of 
going to West Point to receive in person the commander- 
in-chief, Arnold took an agonized farewell of his wife 
and child, mounted his horse and rode down the steep 
hill, still called "Arnold's path, " to Beverly dock, where 
he entered his barge and directed the rowers to pull down 
stream to the Vulture, on which he found safety from 
his enraged countrymen. The house of so many historic 
associations was burned down about a score of years ago. 
Upon the heights are the estates of many wealthy 
people and persons of note, as well as several of colonial 
days. The views in this section are among the finest 
to be found upon the Hudson. West Point is directly 
opposite and Indian Brook adds its own beauty to the 
near-by scene. Its wild glen is fuller of more voracious 
mosquitoes than I have discovered anywhere else that I 
have been. I once attempted to get a photograph of 
it, and the five or more minutes required were among 
the liveliest of my life. 

The magnificent buildings allowed by the National 
Government for the Military Academy at West Point 
are now approaching completion. At the time of the 
Spanish War in 1898, one Senator who scrutinized the 
list of names sent in by the President for appointment 
to captaincies and higher grades, remarked: "Since it 
requires four years of hard study and many thousands 
of dollars to produce a second lieutenant in the army, 



410 The World's Greatest Street 

and the President can make captains, majors, and colonels 
of his own volition, it seems to me that we would save 
money by doing away with West Point altogether." 
But the satire was too obvious. Another Senator scru- 
tinized the list, and noticing the names of so many sons 
of distinguished sires, parodied Longfellow: 

Sons of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime, 

And with papa's push behind us. 
We can get there every time. 

Above Garrisons, the Dutch navigators called the 
river Martelaer's reach, corrupted by the EngHsh into 
Martyr's reach; the name of the island here was sim- 
ilarly corrupted ; but it is best known to-day as Constitu- 
tion Island. It is a rocky spot, connected with the 
mainland by low meadows, awash at high water. It was 
covered with fortifications by the Americans during the 
Revolution, and between it and West Point was stretched 
the great iron chain which was to prevent the passage 
up the river of the enemy's vessels. 

Since about 1840, the island has belonged to Henry 
Warner, Esq., and his two daughters, Susan and Anna 
B. Warner. Mr. Warner obtained complete possession 
of the island by gradual purchase, believing that the 
time would come when it would be needed as an addition 
to West Point, and that then his fortune would be made ; 
but the Government has never wanted it badly enough 
to pay a great price for it. The Warner homestead is 
called "Wood Crag," and is situated on the southern 
slope of the island, its kitchen being one of the barracks 
of old Fort Constitution. Both the sisters were authors; 
but Susan is the more famous. In 1849, under the pen- 
name of " Susan Wetherell, " she wrote the Wide, Wide, 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 411 

World, a novel that still sells, so I am informed by her 
publishers. Twenty other books followed from time 
to time; but the two sisters are known to several gen- 
erations of West Point cadets, not by their literary 
works, but by their religious and social work in connection 
with the Bible class that they maintained for sixty 
years. Susan Warner is dead, but Anna is still aHve at 
an advanced age, probably ninety. In 1909, the Govern- 
ment, assisted by Mrs. Russell Sage, bought the island 
from Miss Warner; but she has a life tenure of the prop- 
erty, and the Government will not take possession until 
after her death. 

General George P. Morris, the author of Woodman, 
Spare that Tree, was well known in literary and jour- 
nalistic circles during the first half of the nineteenth 
century. Morris lived near here at his estate which he 
called " Undercliff . " He received his military title 
during the Civil War. Here his daughter Ida kept house 
for him, and it is she who is mentioned in his apostrophe 
to the Highlands. 

Before entering Cold Spring, the road passes the 
foundries established here in 181 7 for the manufacture 
of ordnance and projectiles for the Government. One of 
the founders of the West Point Foundry was Gouverneur 
Kemble, an associate of Irving and Paulding in the revels 
at Cockloft Hall. During the Civil War, all the Parrott 
guns and projectiles were made here, and the place was 
a busy one. But cast-iron guns and projectiles passed 
out of use, and the foundry lay idle for many years. The 
foundry was the principal industry of Cold Spring. 

The village received its odd name, so it is said, from 
the tradition that upon one occasion, while Washington 
was riding through this section, he stopped at a spring 
for a drink of water. While partaking of it, he remarked : 



412 The World's Greatest Street 

"What a cold spring!" So Cold Spring it has been ever 
since. The scenery of the river here is magnificent. 
Opposite are the precipitous and rocky sides of Breakneck 
and Cro' Nest, and on this side are Bull Head and 
other mountains. In the northern distance, we get a 
glimpse into the opening of Newburgh Bay. The road 
along the shore passes around the end of the Fishkill 
Mountains to Fishkill Landing, about five miles from 
Fishkill and the post-road. 

The Indians who occupied the Highlands were the 
Wicopees, a tribe of the Waranoaks, who occupied the 
section above. The pass through the mountains near 
Fishkill is known as the Wicopee pass, and it was well 
fortified during the Revolution to prevent the British 
from getting above. It was on the heights overlooking 
this pass that Harvey Birch, the hero of Cooper's Spy, 
had his mysterious interview with Washington after 
the former's escape from his threatened execution at 
Fishkill. 

When the proprietary of New York was divided up 
into counties on November i, 1683, two of them were 
named in honor of the lord-proprietor and his wife — 
Duke's, comprising Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and 
Maine, afterwards surrendered to Massachusetts, and 
Dutchess on the east bank of the Hudson. When Dr. 
Johnson issued his Dictionary of the English Language 
in 1757, he introduced some simplified spelling and 
dropped the "t" in Duchess, notwithstanding which, 
the State of New York has clung to the old spelling, 
probably from sentiment, and the county is legally and 
officially known as Dutchess. When it was formed 
in 1683, on account of the paucity of inhabitants, it was 
provisionally attached to Ulster County until 17 13. 
Its boundaries were "from the north bounds of the 




413 



414 



The World's Greatest Street 



county of Westchester on the south side of the Highlands, 
along the east side as far as Roelof Jansen's Kill and east 
into the woods twenty miles." It has suffered two 
curtailments: Livingston's Manor was taken from its 
northern part in 17 17, and Putnam County from its 
southern in 18 12. 

It must be understood that before any grants were 




TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ERECTED 1 769, AT FISHKILL 

made by the English governors, the patentees had to 
show that they had purchased from the Indian pro- 
prietors. The first recorded patent is that of Francis 
Rombout, at one time mayor of New York, under date 
of October 17, 1685. His grant included the two Fish- 
kills and extended along the river and inland for several 
miles. Associated with him in the Indian purchase 
were Gulian Verplanck and Jacobus Kip, the former 
of whom died before Governor Dongan gave the patent. 
Stephanus Van Cortlandt as representative of the \^er- 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 415 

planck children then came in with Rombout and Kip. 
The grant covered over eighty-five thousand acres of 
land. 

The Highlands were called by the Indians of this 
section, the Waranoaks, the Matteawan Mountains. 
The meaning of the name has been given as "the place 
of furs," referring to the beavers who were plentiful 
along the creek, and also as being derived from metai, 
a magician, or medicine-man, and wian, a skin; hence, 
"the place of enchanted skins." The stream was called 
Vis kill (Fish creek), corrupted by the English into 
Fishkill. The creek empties into one of the reaches 
of the Hudson, called by the Dutch Crom Elboge, or 
Crooked Elbow, and, in consequence, the creek is some- 
times called Crom Elbow, a combination of Dutch and 
English. The earliest Dutch settler established him- 
self here before 1690. Below the Highlands, the settlers 
were principally English; above them, they were Dutch, 
German, and Huguenot. On account of the almost im- 
passible barrier of the Highlands, the post-road makes a 
wide detour inland, so that when it debouches from the 
mountains near Fishkill village, it is over five miles 
away from the river and does not return to it until it 
reaches Poughkeepsie. 

The land in this locality was not considered to be of 
the best quality, yet settlers came in gradually, and 
about 1725 the Dutch church at Fishkill was erected. 
It was square in shape and built of stone, with the roof 
sloping up from all sides to a cupola containing a bell; 
in the upper story were port-holes for the use of firearms 
in case of attack by the natives. A tablet on the church 
building states: "Organized 17 16, Building erected 1761, 
Provincial Congress met here 1776, Used as a military 
prison during the Revolution, Enlarged 1786, Interior 



4i6 



The World's Greatest Street 



remodeled 1806, 1820, 1854, 1882." After proclaiming 
the State of New York and the independence of the 
colonies at White Plains in July, 
1776, the Provincial Congress, or 
State Legislature, fled from West- 
chester County to Fishkill and 
held its meetings here as stated 







THE FIRST REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, FISHKILL 

on the tablet. The English church, called Trinity, was 
not built until about 1760 — it was the first edifice of the 
Established Church erected north of the Highlands. 

On account of the activity of the British after the 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 



417 



campaign of 1776 in Westchester County, it became 
necessary to estabUsh the magazines and storehouses 
in a safer place, and Fishkill was chosen as being on one 
of the main Hnes of communication between New England 
and the Hudson. The village became a place of con- 
siderable military importance with its factories and 
hospitals. It is stated in the History of Dutchess County 




1111. OLD GRIST-MILL AT BRINCKERHOFF NEAR FISHKILL, OVER ONE 

HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS OLD. ERECTED BY SOLDIERS 

DURING THE REVOLUTION AND STILL IN USE 



that, in consequence, there are probably more Revolu- 
tionary dead buried at Fishkill than in any other place 
in the State. One of the swords of Washington in the 
National Museum at the seat of the Federal Government 
bears the name of Blacksmith Bailey of Fishkill, where 
it was forged. Joshua Hett Smith, the host of Arnold and 
Andre, in whose house at Haverstraw they finished 
their conference and where Andre changed from his 



418 The World's Greatest Street 

regimentals into civilian garb, was arrested at Fishkill. 
His trial for treason, of which he was acquitted, furnishes 
us with the historic facts in regard to the capture and 
the conspiracy. 

The Marquis de Chastellux, a French general officer, 
passed through this section in November, 1780. He 
comments on the American inns, which were usually 
kept by captains or colonels of militia, they being elected 
to those positions as being the most popular or best- 
known men in the community. The inns were clean 
and the inn-keepers courteous; but the buildings often 
had many broken panes of glass, and the guests had 
difficulty in patching them up to keep out the winter 
air. Fishkill was a place of magazines for the Americans 
as it was on the main road from Litchfield, Connecticut, 
and the Hudson and was a safe place from being situated 
north of the Highlands. He observed a number of 
Tory prisoners who had been captured in the fighting 
in the Mohawk Valley. The noble marquis remarks 
that these scoundrels should have been hanged, but that 
the Americans were afraid of reprisals on the part of 
the British who held a number of American prisoners. 
He pushed on to visit General Heath at West Point, 
and some four or five miles from Fishkill in the Highlands 
he observed a camp of invalids, all apparently in very 
good health. He remarks that in the American army 
every soldier unfit for military duty was termed an 
invalid; in this case " these had been sent here because 
their clothes were truly invalids. " They were not covered 
even with rags, but they displayed good courage and 
patience and their arms were well-kept and in good order. 
A few miles farther on he caught his first glimpse of the 
Hudson which he describes as the most magnificent and 
beautiful scene he had ever witnessed in all his travels. 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 419 

When the first Constitution of the State was adopted 
in 1777, the only press that could be found where it 
could be printed was in Fishkill. The press belonged 
to Samuel Louden, the publisher of the New York Packet 
and American Advertiser, who had left the city of New 
York previous to the British occupation and who first 
published his paper in Fishkill on the first of October, 
1776 — after the war he returned to New York. 



f^^ 
^^''1^^ 




THE WHARTON HOUSE, FISHKILL 



Besides the two church edifices already mentioned, 
there are several ancient structures in and near Fishkill, 
among which is the Wharton house south of the village, 
from which Harvey Birch made his escape in the manner 
described in The Spy. Another interesting house dating 
from colonial times is that called the Teller house at 
Matteawan. It was built by Roger Brett in 17 10, and 
was long occupied by his widow, Madame Brett, a famous 
colonial dame of that locality. A third house of still 



420 The World's Greatest Street 

more historic interest is situated about two miles north 
of Fishkill Landing near the river; this is the Verplanck 
House in which Baron Steuben had his headquarters. 
During the Revolution, many detachments of the army- 
were quartered in this vicinity; and in 1783, while waiting 
for the signing of the treaty of peace, there were numerous 
cantonments of the Americans on this side of the river 
as well as at Newburgh. As the officers were soon to 



/' 



Ji 







i'*<nv.J;Jia;fi •<- 



*'.;^*,«'\/ 



THE TELLER HOUSE, MATTEAWAN 

separate and break the ties of comradeship that had 
bound them together for so many years, it was proposed 
that they form a patriotic and beneficent society to 
keep alive the memories of the war. They chose as 
their exemplar the Roman patriot Cincinnatus, who, 
having saved Rome at the head of the army, returned 
to his farm and his ordinary avocations. The meetings 
of the officers were held at Steuben's quarters, and the 
Order of the Cincinnati was the result, September i, 
1783. It was the ancestral home of Gulian C. Verplanck, 
the author and contemporary of Irving who passed his 
last days in the old, historic mansion. 




7H£ Verpl a nck Mansion 

AT Fish KILL Landing 

Ki^ The Htver Front 



Fto/ii l/ieBi'fve 




^^^seM 



mtmimmmmKiiammmimmg''^mm. 



421 



422 



The World's Greatest Street 



The post-road leaves Fishkill village at the old 
Dutch Church by way of Wappingers Falls to Pough- 
keepsie. The former gets its name from the Wappinger, 
or Wappingi, tribe of Indians who occupied this section, 
and the creek was called by them, Wahamanessing. 




WAl'l'INCKKS FALLS 



These Indians were drawn into the war which their 
kindred Mohicans waged with Kieft in 1643-1645. This 
locality was claimed by the Massachusetts colonies and 
in furtherance of their claims, they sent an expedition 
by water in 1659 which sailed up the Hudson, notwith- 
standing Stuyvesant's protests, and selected a spot for 
a settlement near the mouth of Wappingers Creek. 
Stuyvesant at once wrote to the Amsterdam authorities 
to send out colonists to occupy the same section and thus 
prevent the encroachments of the English. In 1660, 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 423 

the Amsterdam chamber approved the governor's plan 
and directed him to buy the lands from the Indians 
and thus to check the projected enterprise of the English. 
In 1663, occurred the second war with the Esopus In- 
dians; but the Wappingers showed themselves friendly 
to the Dutch. After the conclusion of peace in 1664 an 
investigation showed that the Wappingers had been 
tampered with by the Connecticut people but had 




COLLEGE HILL, POUGHKEEPSIE 

refused to act against the Dutch and to continue the 
war. 

"Locust Grove," the former estate of S. F. B, Morse, 
the artist, but better known as the inventor of the electric 
telegraph, was situated about a mile south of Pough- 
keepsie. 

The first patent to this land, also including Pough- 
keepsie, was made to Peter Schuyler by Governor Dongan, 
June 2, 1688. On the shore of the Hudson was a sheltered 



424 



The World's Greatest Street 



inlet where the Indians kept their canoes. This was 
called by them Apokeepsing, or Apo-keep-sinck meaning 
"a safe harbor. " From this Indian name we get Pough- 
keepsie which is the accepted way of spelling it, though 
Lossing gives forty-two different ways in which the name 
appears on ancient maps and records. The "safe har- 




THE VAN KLEECK HOUSE 



bor" lay between two cliffs, the northern one called by 
the Dutch Slange Klippe, meaning Adder Cliff, from 
the number of venomous serpents found there, and the 
southern one named the Call Rock, from the fact that 
the settlers used to call to the passing vessels from this 
spot when they desired the vessels to stop — this is im- 
mediately south of the landing-place of the Albany day 
boat. Between these two bluffs, forming the sheltered 
cove of the Indians, leaped the brook Winnakee, called 
by the Dutch the Fall Kill. There is a so-called legend 
of a pair of Indian lovers and the rescue of the maiden 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 425 

from her captors and of her being hidden in the mouth 
of the Winnakee, which thus became a safe harbor for 
her — but, Hke nine-tenths of the so-called Indian legends, 
I am afraid it will not hold water. 

The log-houses of the first Dutch settlers made their 
appearance about 1690, and the first stone house was 
built by Baltus Van Kleeck in 1702. The first church 
in Dutchess County was built here about 1720. It was 
a square, stone edifice, and, like all the early churches, 
of startling ugliness. It, as well as the houses, was 
loopholed for muskets in case of Indian attack. The 
Fall Kill furnished power, and its banks became lined 
with mills, developing later into factories. 

Poughkeepsie became the county-seat shortly after 
the formation of the counties, and the court-house was 
ordered to be built in 1715; but it was not completed 
until 1746, though courts were held here in 1734. The 
court-house was burnt in 1785, but was rebuilt soon 
after at a cost of twelve thousand dollars ; but it was again 
destroyed by fire, September 25, 1808. By legislative 
act, March 7, 1788, the State was divided anew into 
counties, and these into townships. Poughkeepsie became 
a town on that date, an incorporated village, March 27, 
1797, and a city, March 28, 1854. 

While there was no fighting there of record during 
the Revolution, the city is of the greatest interest in 
the history of the State from a political standpoint. The 
legislature met at Van Kleeck's upon call of Governor 
Clinton in January, 1778, after Burgoyne's invasion, in 
order to complete the State government in accordance 
with the State constitution; and it was while this legis- 
lature was in session that the State gave its assent to 
the Articles of Confederation of the colonies. The legis- 
lature was also in session here when the news arrived 



426 



The World's Greatest Street 



on October 29, 1781, that Yorktown was taken and that 
Comwallis had surrendered, and gave expression to 
its joy over the prospect of peace. In 1734, John Holt 
established the New York Journal; but in 1776 it was 
removed to Poughkeepsie in consequence of the British 
occupation, going back to New York in November, 




THOMPSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE 



1783, upon the evacuation of the city and the return of 
peace. 

But the most important political event which occurs 
in the history of the State took place in the rebuilt court- 
house in 1788. Upon June seventeenth of that year, 
sixty-one delegates, representing twelve counties, met 
in solemn conclave to consider the ratification of the 
Constitution of the United States. The opposition, 
led by George Clinton, John Lansing, Melancthon Smith, 
William Harper, and Robert Yates, was in the majority; 
and could a vote have been taken at once, the Constitu- 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 



427 



tion would have been rejected by an overwhelming vote. 
But it was not until July twenty-sixth that a vote was 
taken, and then the convention ratified by a majority 
of three in a vote of fifty-seven. This result was due 
to Chancellor Livingston, John Jay, and, especially, 
to Alexander Hamilton, whose matchless eloquence 



/:^t 



iiiiPI 



:%V.n' 




MAIN BtlLDING VASSAK COLLEGE 



and unanswerable logic and argument converted his 
opponents and led to the happy result, so momentous 
to the cause of constitutional government. 

During the Revolution, vessels for the navy were 
built at Poughkeepsie, as ship-building was one of the 
important industries of the place. The Congress and 
Montgomery frigates were two of the vessels constructed 
in 1776; but those built were principally for river use, 
as the presence of the British fleet in New York harbor 
during the entire war from 1776 to 1783 prevented the 



428 The World's Greatest Street 

American vessels from getting to sea. In 1824, Lafayette, 
while on his visit to the United States, visited Pough- 
keepsie and was received with great honor. 

The city has been famous for many years for its 
institutions of learning for both sexes, and several business 
colleges and schools of more than local reputation are 
located here. In 1861 Matthew Vassar, a wealthy 
brewer of the city, established Vassar College, one of 
the pioneer institutions of the world for the higher edu- 
cation of women. The Vassar family have added to 
the benefactions of the founder, as have other wealthy 
persons, so that the work of the college is known through- 
out the civilized world. The Hudson is spanned by 
the famous Poughkeepsie bridge, the only place between 
New York and Albany where the river is so crossed. 
The bridge is of the cantilever construction, though only 
the river spans are true cantilevers. The bridge has 
five spans and is 6767 feet long, having a height of 212 
feet and a clearance of 165 feet in the middle arches. It 
was completed in 1889 at a cost of about two millions 
of dollars, and is used by the Poughkeepsie and Eastern 
railway, principally for carrying coal from Pennsylvania 
to eastern points. 

It has been the custom for several years to hold in the 
river at Poughkeepsie the great intercollegiate rowing 
matches; and upon such occasions many thousands of 
spectators line both sides of the river wherever there is a 
point of vantage. A magnificent view of the distant 
Catskills and of the tree-embowered city may be obtained 
from College Hill Park on the east of the city at an 
elevation of five hundred feet. 

Benson J. Lossing, who did so much to make history 
popular by his Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, was 
a resident of Poughkeepsie. Some of his other works 




429 



430 The World's Greatest Street 

were The Hudson, from the Wilderness to the Sea, a de- 
lightful work covering a great deal of the ground of 
this monograph, a History of the City of New York and 
a Field Book of the War of 1812. His "Field Books " are 
profusely illustrated with sketches made by himself 
of many famous places and houses, long since demolished 
or crumbled into dust. What adds to the interest of 
his books is the fact that he came in personal contact 
in his journeyings with many veritable sons and daugh- 
ters of the Revolution and occasionally with aged partici- 
pants. His Field Book of the Revolution is a mine of 
information upon almost all subjects connected with 
American Colonial and Revolutionary history, though 
not always accurate. 

North of Poughkeepsie the post-road leads through 
Hyde Park, Staatsburg, Rhinebeck, Red Hook, and 
Upper Red Hook, all of which are some distance from 
the river, though each has its so-called "landing." The 
presence of so many "landings" along the river gives 
evidence of the importance in days gone by of the river 
traffic, which has not altogether lost its value on account 
of railroad competition. The road for the greater part 
of the distance between these places is shaded by fine 
trees and is lined by the country estates of many of our 
wealthiest citizens; and among them are estates which 
formerly belonged to some of the famous literary, diplo- 
matic, and military men of the first half of the nine- 
teenth century. Dr. Hosack, the famous botanist, had 
his country place at Hyde Park, where he was fre- 
quently visited by Philip Hone, as the latter mentions 
in his diary. 

James Kirke Paulding, the intimate friend of Irving 
and his associate in the Salmagundi papers, filled various 
public positions, including that of Secretary of the Navy 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 431 

during Van Buren's Administration. He lived at Hyde 
Park during the last years of his life at his seat called 
"Placentia, " and died an octogenarian in i860. 

Hyde Park was included in the grant made to Peter 
Fauconier, Colonel Caleb Heathcote, and seven others — 
whence the name, the "Nine Partners' Grant," by 
which it was at first known — on May 27, 1697. Fau- 
conier was secretary to Edward Hyde, Lord Combury, 
governor of the province, and named the tract Hyde 
Park in compliment to his worthless master. Staatsburg 
was first known as Pawling's purchase, from the first 
owner, who died in 1695. In 1701, his heirs sold the 
property to Dr. Samuel Staats, who, after a long residence 
in India, returned to New York with his wife, a "begum, " 
or East Indian princess.* Another of the earlier settlers 
was Jacobus Stoutenburgh, from whom one historian 
says the name of Staatsburg was derived by natural 
contraction; but the derivation from Staats is more 
likely. 

Among the passengers on the ship bringing Peter 
Stuyvesant to New Amsterdam, was a German named 
William Beckman, who came from the valley of the 
Rhine. His son. Colonel Henry Beckman, became pos- 
sessed of the land north of Staatsburg by a grant made 
to him by Queen Anne, June 17, 1703. The settlers he 
induced to occupy his grant were principally Germans 
from the Rhine country, and out of the first syllable of 
his name and from the name of their beloved river in 
Germany was formed the name Rhinebeck, The paten- 
tee's name was also spelled Beekman, and it is by this 
spelling that it is best known. The leather district of 
New York City known as "The Swamp" was originally 

* See The Begum 's Daughter, a novel of the time of Leisler, by Edwin 
Lassetter Bynner, 1890. 



432 The World's Greatest Street 

Beekman's Swamp, out of which Beekman Street leads 
to Park Row. 

The first recorded purchase of this section was made 
by Jacobus and Hendrick Kip from three Esopus Indians 
in 1688; and on June 2, 1688, Governor Thomas Dongan 
gave a confirmatory patent of the Kipsburgh Manor to 
Roosa, Elting, and the two Kips. Hendrick Kip built 
his home upon his south lot near the Hudson in 1700; 
it afterwards came into the possession of Beekman, and 
has been known as the Beekman house and as '' Heermance 
Place." It is still standing and gives many signs of 
its antiquity. As Beekman's grant of 1703 covered the 
same territory as the Kip patent, the colonel must have 
made some composition with the previous patentees. 
Beekman's grant bordered the Hudson from Staatsburg 
to Red Hook. 

Above the Beekman grant was another grant given 
to Peter Schuyler, called the Magdalen Island Purchase. 
There were Dutch settlers in here before 1690; and in 
the following decade others came in and bought property 
both in Rhinebeck and in Red Hook; for we find that 
on December 16, 1737, there was formed the Rhinebeck 
Precinct of Dutchess County, which included "The land 
purchased from the Widow Pawling and her children by 
Dr. Samuel Staats; all the land granted to Adrien, Roosa, 
and Cotbe; the land patented by Henry Beekman, and 
the land granted to Colonel Peter Schuyler, called the 
Magdalen Island Purchase." 

The two towns of Rhinebeck and Red Hook were, 
therefore, closely joined in early days; though the latter 
was not settled by the Dutch until between 17 13 and 
1727. Germans, Palatines, and Huguenots helped to 
settle and develop both towns; and the names of the 
inhabitants of these towns to-day show their descent 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 433 

from the original white occupiers of the land. Red 
Hook received its name from the Dutch, who called it 
Roode Hoeck from a marsh near Tivoli, which, when first 
seen by the newcomers, was covered with ripe cran- 
berries. The aborigines occupying Rhinebeck Precinct 
were called Sepescoots ; and when the very earliest whites 
•came to this locality, there were still visible at Upper 
Red Hook the remains of the Indian warriors who had 
fallen in a great battle between the Wappingers and their 
hereditary enemies, the Iroquois. 

Between Rhinebeck and Red Hook is "Rokeby, " a 
magnificent estate belonging to one of the Astor family. 
It was originally a part of the immense Livingston domain 
and came into the possession of General John Armstrong, 
an officer in the Revolution and a member of Gates's 
staff, whose wife was a sister of Chancellor Livingston. 
Armstrong was a major at the close of the War for Inde- 
pendence, and was the author of the inflammatory 
addresses privately circulated among the officers in the 
cantonments at Newburgh in 1783. Congress had been 
unable for a long time to pay the soldiers of the Continen- 
tal army who were now about to be disbanded and sent 
to their homes in poverty. These addresses, instigated, 
so it is said, by General Gates, were intended to stir up 
the Congress to take some action in regard to the claims 
of the soldiers rather than to excite the army to take 
matters into their own hands and overthrow the civil 
authority. The wisdom of Washington prevented any 
bad results from following these ill-considered addresses; 
and Armstrong was acquitted of all evil intentions, and 
his act was declared to have been inspired by patriotism. 
Armstrong later became United States Senator, Minister 
to France, brigadier-general in the army and Secretary 
of War during the second war with Great Britain. The 
28 



434 The World's Greatest Street 

General Armstrong, privateer, whose famous fight with 
the ships of the British fleet at Fayal in the Azores 
prevented the co-operation of the British vessels with 
Pakenham at the attack upon Jackson at New Orleans 
in 1815, was named after him. He was the author of 
a Life of his brother-in-law, General Montgomery, a 
Life of General Wayne, and Historical Notices of the War 
of 181 2. His daughter married William B. Astor, and 
thus "Rokeby" came into possession of the Astors. 

At Red Hook, we come again across our old friend 
Martin Krigier, this time far removed from his tavern 
opposite the Bowling Green. During the second Esopus 
War of 1663, he was a captain in command of a company 
of soldiers campaigning in this vicinity and on the west 
side of the Hudson. Some of the Esopus Indians took 
refuge on the east side, and the doughty captain pre- 
vailed upon some friendly Indians to guide him and his 
command to the hiding-place of the refugees. Here he 
partially surprised them and killed several. 

The post-road still continues to be lined with elegant 
estates; and as we get farther north, we find that many 
of them belonged to persons who were closely allied to 
the Livingston family, either by blood or marriage. 
One of the most famous of these estates of the present 
is "Ellerslie," belonging to ex-Governor and ex- Vice- 
President Levi P. Morton, the banker. Mr. Morton 
has here on his country-place the most famous herd of 
Guernsey cattle in this country, if not in the world. 
The values of some of them are almost unbelievable, 
and the output as quoted of individual cows in milk, 
cream and butter sounds fabulous. 

Another interesting estate, like "Ellerslie," near the 
river, is "Montgomery Place," built by the widow of 
General Montgomery, in which she passed fifty years of 



Putnam and Dutchess Counties 435 

childless widowhood. She was born Janet Livingston, 
a sister of the Chancellor, and married Montgomery a 
few years before the Revolution. She accompanied 
him as far as the Schuyler mansion near Saratoga when 
he departed on the Canadian expedition. When he bade 
his wife good-bye, he said: "You will never have to blush 
for your Montgomery. " In 18 18, the State of New York 
caused his remains to be brought from Quebec for burial 
at St. Paul's, New York. The body was brought down 
the Hudson on the steamer Richmond with all the honors 
that could be paid to the dead hero. Mrs. Montgomery 
had been notified as to the time the vessel would pass 
her property, and she was left alone upon the porch 
while the funeral cortege passed. The vessel slowed 
down, while the band played a dirge and the escort 
presented arms. When her attendants went to her, 
they found Mrs. Montgomery in a swoon upon the floor. 
What must have been her feelings as the dead lover of 
her youth was borne past, and she thought of the parting 
forty-two years before! 




CHAPTER XVII 

COLUMBIA AND RENSSELAER COUNTIES 

LBANY County was one of the 
original counties of the province, 
formed November i, 1683, It ex- 
tended north of Dutchess County 
on the east side of the Hudson 
River to the northern bounds of 
the proprietary, and included 
about everything on the west 
side of the river above Ulster County. A number of 
counties have been formed out of the original area, and 
among those on the east side of the Hudson are Columbia 
and Rensselaer Counties, the former, April 4, 1786, and 
the latter, February 7, 1 791. 

North of the Wappinger Indians, above Red Hook, 
were the tribe of the Mohican, or Mohegan, Indians, 
occupying all of these two counties. The ancient seat 
of their council fire was at Schodac, a corruption of the 
Mohican Esquatak, "the fire-place of the nation." 
They also had a fortified village, or castle, at Greenbush, 
opposite Albany, for protection from the Mohawks. 
Mention has already been made of the Indian battlefield 
at Upper Red Hook. This battle occurred in 1628, 
at which time the Mohicans were driven from their 
ancestral home, and under their chief Uncas sought 

436 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 437 

refuge among the Pequods in Connecticut. The prin- 
cipal stronghold of Uncas was at Norwich, where, during 
a war with the Narragansetts he captured their chief 
Miantonomah by a ruse. Miantonomah was afterwards 
put to death by Uncas under orders from the English 
after a semblance of a trial. The Mohicans gradually 
dwindled in numbers and w^re deprived of their lands; 
so that at the time of the Revolution they occupied lands 
in the valley of the Housatonic and were called the 
Stockbridge Indians. They were allies of the patriots 
during the war, probably because their ancient enemies, 
the Mohawks, were on the side of the British. A number 
of them, including their chief Nimham, were killed in 
September, 1778, in a battle with the British partisans 
in the northeast corner of Van Cortlandt Park on the 
''Indian Field," which has been marked by an appro- 
priate cairn and tablet erected by Bronx Chapter of 
the Daughters of the American Revolution. 

From Rhinebeck, the post-road passes into the town 
of Clermont in Columbia County and we come upon 
the property of the Livingston family, one of the most 
famous in the annals of the State. Its founder was Robert 
Livingston, the son of a Scotch clergyman, who was 
obliged for political reasons to seek refuge in Holland. 
Here Robert acquired a knowledge of the Dutch language 
as well as of the French. He came to New York from 
Holland in 1674 and appeared at Albany, where he 
became clerk of Indian affairs. In 1679, he married 
Alida Schuyler, the widow of one of the Van Rensselaers. 
He became a friend of Governor Dongan, and when that 
governor granted the charter to the city of Albany in 1686, 
Livingston became town clerk. He was not on friendly 
terms with Leisler, and, with Bayard, was chiefly in- 
strumental in bringing about the executions of Leisler 



438 The World's Greatest Street 

and his son-in-law Milbome. The latter saw Livingston 
in the crowd at his execution and called to him from 
the scaffold: "You have caused my death, but for this 
I will implead you before the bar of God." 

Governor Fletcher was not friendly to Livingston, 
and the latter went to England, where he ingratiated 
himself with those in power and came back with life 
appointments to several lucrative positions — these 
Fletcher declined to notice, as well as Livingston's 
claims for subsistence furnished the troops during the 
wars with the French. With Lord Bellomont, Livingston 
was more successful. Piracy was then rampant upon 
the ocean, and Livingston proposed to the governor 
that he and others would fit out a vessel and capture 
and destroy the pirates and sell the captured cargoes 
for the benefit of those fitting out the vessel. Bellomont 
approved the scheme and became one of the associates, 
another being Frederick Philipse; and it was whispered 
that the king was interested in the enterprise. Living- 
ston recommended Captain William Kidd as the com- 
mander, and the vessel was fitted out and started on the 
famous cruise which brought Kidd to the gallows and 
disgrace to his backers. 

To be a great land-owner was the supreme passion 
and ambition of Livingston's life. For this purpose he 
sought office, saved his money, went to England, changed 
his politics to please Bellomont, and attached himself 
to those who would give him the best opportunities to 
advance his purpose. The fortune of his wife assisted 
him in carrying out his desire. He had been in the 
country but five years when he applied to Governor 
Andros for permission to buy from the Indians a tract 
of land on Roelof Jansen's kill on the east side of the 
Hudson, then in the possession of a few remaining Indians 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 439 

and squaws. The purchase of two thousand acres was 
consummated July 12, 1683, and confirmed by the Dongan 
patent of November 4, 1684. A second petition was 
made, June 3, 1685, to buy a tract of six hundred acres 
called by the natives "Potthoke, " or "Potkoke," now 
Claverack. These two tracts of very indefinite metes 
and bounds were formed into a manor, and other pur- 
chases followed from time to time. The first manor- 
house of the Livingstons, erected in 1699, stood on the 
bank of the Hudson in the present township of Livingston, 
Dutchess County, just north of where Roelof Jansen's 
kill enters the river. For the first few years, by reason 
of the wars with the French, settlement on the manor 
was slow. In 1702, Bellomont writes : " I am told Living- 
ston has on his great grant of sixteen miles long and 
twenty-four broad but four or five cottages occupied 
by men too poor to be farmers, but who are his 
vassals." 

After the close of the war, Livingston built saw- and 
grist-mills and a new manor-house near the river and 
induced settlers to come to his manor. Louis XIV. 
was busy about this time in laying waste the Palatinate, 
and the poor Protestants fled from their desolated country 
to England, where they aroused the sympathy and se- 
cured the assistance of Queen Anne and others, and some 
three thousand of them were sent to America. Governor 
Hunter writes to the Lords of Trade in 17 10: "I have 
now settled the Palatines upon good land upon both 
sides of Hudson's River, about one hundred miles up 
adjacent to the Pines ; I have planted them in five villages, 
three on the east side of the River upon six thousand 
acres of Mr. Livingston about two miles from Roelof 
Jansen's kill." The settlements on the two banks of 
the river were known respectively as the East Camp 



440 The World's Greatest Street 

and the West Camp; and Hunter paid Livingston four 
hundred pounds for the land taken. 

These poor expatriates had to be housed and fed 
at the pubhc expense, and Livingston received the con- 
tract to supply them with bread and beer. There were 
some suggestions of sharp practice (graft) on his part, 
but he succeeded in satisfying the governor of the honesty 
of his dealings. The Palatines had expected to be located 
on farms of their own, but instead, they were located on 
lands contiguous to the "Pines" mentioned in the gov- 
ernor's letter, from which they were expected to get 
pitch, tar, and turpentine for the use of the queen's navy. 
Their dissatisfaction showed itself in riotous actions so 
that troops had to be called in to suppress their turbu- 
lence. After two years they were left to shift for them- 
selves as the burden on the public for their support was 
becoming too heavy. Many of them departed to ad- 
joining manors, to the West Camp across the river, to 
the valley of the Mohawk (General Herkimer, the hero 
of Oriskany, was descended from them, and Palatine 
Bridge marks their settlement), and to Pennsylvania 
to join others of their countrymen who had settled there 
and whose descendants to-day are known as "Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch." 

The bounds of Livingston's property, based upon the 
Indian nomenclature, were in dispute and very indefinite. 
To remedy this Livingston had his manor surveyed by 
the surveyor-general of the province in 1714. A map 
was made showing the metes and bounds and the dis- 
tances were carefully noted; and the computation gives 
162,240 acres, so that either the Indians were very gener- 
ous in their acreage or the purchaser was very grasping 
in his measurements — more probably the latter. The 
confirmatory patent passed the seals October i, 17 15; it 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 441 

secured Livingston's title and gave him representation 
in the provincial assembly. No road appears traversing 
the manor from north to south, but we must believe 
that the Indian trail existed. One of Livingston's dis- 
putes was with Hendrick Van Rensselaer, who owned 
the Clermont patent and who claimed that the manor 
encroached upon his land. Livingston yielded, though 
some portion of Clermont must have returned to his 
possession as we shall see presently. History describes 
the manor-lord as a canny Scot, always looking for the 
main chance; a complaisant politician, willing to set his 
sails to every favoring wind, greedy and avaricious of 
land and money to the last. 

The first manor-lord left by his will thirteen thousand 
acres in Clermont to his second son Robert, and all the 
residue of his estate to his eldest son Philip, a New York 
merchant, who spent his summers on his manor; he, 
in turn, was succeeded by his son Robert, the third 
manor-lord. Massachusetts claimed luider its charter 
as far as the Pacific Ocean, and about 1750, disputes 
arose with the Livingstons in regard to the eastern 
boundary of their patent; riots followed, and people 
of each province were jailed by the other for trespass, 
so that a mild sort of war ensued between the two dis- 
putants. The dispute in regard to the boundary extended 
along the whole line of the provinces, ending in the ad- 
dition to all the New York counties on the line of a tract 
of land known from its shape as the Oblong. 

In 1795, an attempt was made by the Livingston 
tenants to destroy the manor-lord's titles and to establish 
the fact that the land belonged to the State, in accordance 
with certain principles established as a result of the 
Revolution — but the attempt was unsuccessful. The 
pernicious practice of leasing the farms to the tenants 



442 The World's Greatest Street 

instead of selling them in fee resulted in numerous dis- 
putes and in the failure of the tenants to pay their rents ; 
so that it became necessary to employ the aid of the 
sheriff and, finally, of the military force of the State to 
collect the rents and to put down the riots and dis- 
turbances that resulted. These Anti-Rent wars, as 
they were called, culminated about 1844 upon the Living- 
ston and Rensselaer manors; and upon a final appeal 
to the legislature, the contention of the tenants was up- 
held and the manor-lords lost their property. The 
decision was probably unjust, but the politician of that 
era gained power and influence by adopting the popular 
side.* 

Dirck Wessel Ten Broeck, mayor of Albany, bought 
twelve hundred acres in Clermont from Livingston on 
October 26, 1694, and settled the land. There were 
already three squatters near Roelof Jansen's kill. Ten 
Broeck's son of the same name came to Clermont about 
1704-6, after retiring from business in Albany, and re- 
mained until his death in 171 7. 

Philip Livingston, the second manor-lord, had five 
sons: Robert, the third manor-lord; Philip Van Brugh, 
a merchant of New York, whose house we passed at 
Dobbs Ferry; John, a Tory; Philip, the signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, and William, the war 
governor of New Jersey. Robert Livingston, the son 
of the first manor-lord, who inherited the thirteen thou- 
sand acres, built an elegant mansion in 1730, which he 
called Clermont, and lived upon his land. His son, 

* See Cooper's three novels covering this matter, which should be 
read in the following order; Satanstoe, Chainbearer, and The Redskins. The 
first is the best description of colonial life I have ever read, the second is not 
so good, and the last, which covers the anti-rent period, I have never been 
able to finish. 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 443 

Robert R., was a judge of the supreme court of the 
province, and the judge's son, Robert R., junior, was a 
member of the Continental Congress, being one of the 
Committee of Five to draft the Declaration, minister of 
foreign affairs, chancellor of the State of New York, and 
minister to France. At the time of his marriage, the 




BUILT BY WILLIAM K. LUDLOW, I786, NOW IN POSSESSION OF HIS GREAT- 
GRANDSON, R. FULTON LUDLOW, CLAVERACK, N. Y. 

Chancellor, as he is best known, did not like to disturb 
his widowed mother at her mansion and so built a smaller 
house close by. In 1777, during Burgoyne's invasion 
from the north. General Vaughan with three thousand 
British troops tried to push on to Albany from the south 
and to create a diversion in favor of Burgoyne. He 
ascended the river as far as Kingston, which he burned, 
and some of his troops crossed to the east side of the river 



444 The World's Greatest Street 

for the purpose of destroying the property of the arch 
rebel Livingston. As a result, both of the Clermont 
mansions were destroyed, but were rebuilt later. 

As early as 1797, the Chancellor engaged with an 
Englishman named Nesbit and another named Brunei, 
the father of the designer and constructor of the steam- 
ship Great Eastern, in experiments with steam navigation. 
The trials were made in the Hudson adjoining his prop- 
erty, but were unsuccessful. Then came the Chan- 
cellor's appointment as minister to France in 1801, and 
his acquaintance in that country with Robert Fulton, 
and his experiments in a similar direction. Backed by 
Livingston's wealth and influence, Fulton pushed his 
experiments to a successful issue; and in September, 
1807, the Clermont made her epoch-making trip to Albany 
and back; and steam navigation was an accomplished 
fact. Fulton married a daughter of Walter Livingston, 
and his grandson, Robert Fulton Ludlow, has a Fulton 
museum at his residence in Claverack. In addition to 
his aid to Fulton, the Chancellor was the first to introduce 
into this country the breed of merino sheep. He died 
at Clermont in 1813. 

To show the difficulties of travel in those early days, 
a letter from Mrs. Livingston to the judge, her husband, 
is appended: 

Clermont, July 12, 1776. 
With joy I embrace the opportunity of conversing with 
you by the Manor sloop. . . . We set out from New York 
in so great a hurry that I could not give myself the pleasure 
of seeing, nor the pain of parting with you. We had a very 
pleasant ride the first day, which brought us to Croton. Here 
we were detained until the next day by rain, but it is impossible 
to describe this day's journey; the crags, precipices and 
mountains that we had a view of, together with the excessive 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 445 

badness of the roads, that were laid bare by streams of water 
taking their course through their midst, which made it very 
disagreeable to me. We could go no farther that day than 
Warren's, who lives in the midst of the Highlands, but the 
next day made up for the fatigue of this. We had a most 
charming journey the remaining part of the day. We break- 
fasted at Van Wyck's [the Wharton house], who lives at 
Fishkill; dined at Poughkeepsie, slept at Rhinebeck, where 
we arrived at six o'clock. The next morning, which was 
Sunday, we came home at nine o'clock and found the family 
all in good health and spirits. 

Several references have been made to Roelof Jansen's 
kill, which is the principal stream, in the southern part 
of Columbia County. Roelof Jansen, after whom it was 
named, was overseer of the orphans' chamber (corres- 
ponding to surrogate) at Albany and assistant superin- 
tendent of farms for Patroon Van Rensselaer; and in 
advancing the interests of his employer bought a tract 
of land in this neighborhood from the Indians. His 
wife was Annetje Jans; and in 1636 he obtained a grant 
from Director Van Twiller on the west side of the Heere 
Straat, which later became the "Dominie's bouwerie" 
and part of the property of the Trinity corporation, as 
we have already seen. The old bridge by which the 
post-road crosses the stream dates back to colonial 
days. The other important streams in the county are 
Claverack Creek and Kinderhook Creek. 

The first road traversing Columbia County from 
north to south was the old post-road, passing through 
Clermont, of which it is the principal street, Livingston, 
Claverack, and Kinderhook. The Highland Turnpike 
Company had toll-gates along the road during the time 
it was responsible for maintenance of the highway. 
From Poughkeepsie, where the road touches a river 



446 



The World's Greatest Street 



town, it passes inland, varying in distance from the 
river from two to six miles; but its former importance is 
shown by the fact that along its course are a score of 
towns and villages, while upon the river there are only 
about half a dozen. Besides the numerous estates, 
Columbia and Rensselaer Counties have been, and 




THE BLUE STORE 



are, agricultural. With the exception of Lancaster 
County in Pennsylvania, this section presents the most 
magnificent farms I have ever seen anywhere, show- 
ing that Dutch neatness and thrift have been qual- 
ities inherited by the present inhabitants from their 
Dutch, German, and Huguenot ancestors. Dr. John 
Romeyn Brodhead, who did such invaluable work 
in codifying the colonial records of the State, was 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 447 

a resident of Clermont and occupied a mansion known 
as the "Brick House." 

Beyond Clermont, we come to Blue Store. This 
was a tavern and change-house where the stages re- 
ceived a relay of horses in the old coaching days. The 
peculiar name was given to the tavern from its being 




CITY Ul" NIEU ORANGE AS SKETCHED IN 1 6/3 



painted blue, a color which present proprietors still 
retain. The old post-road continued on from this point 
by way of Claverack and Kinderhook; but when Hudson 
became an important place, the stages turned here 
toward the river, stopping at Kellogg' s Tavern in Hudson- 
Between New York and Albany, the Hudson River 
was divided by the ancient navigators into "reaches," 
fourteen in number. One of these, on account of the 
quantities of clover, was called by the Dutch, die Klaver 



448 



The World's Greatest Street 



Rack, or the Clover Reach, a name surviving to-day in 
Claverack. It is a quiet, pretty place where there are still 
standing several houses dating from colonial days and sev- 
eral educational establishments of considerable reputation. 
In May, 1649, Van Slechtenhorst, commissary to 




REFORMED CHURCH, CLAVERACK. ERECTED A.D. 1 767 

Patroon Van Rensselaer, bought for his master from 
the Indians a large tract of land about Claverack. This 
purchase was declared void by Stuyvesant in July, 1652, 
but the order was afterwards modified by the Amsterdam 
chamber. The purchase was confirmed by Dongan, 
November 4, 1685, as well as the other purchases of the 
manor-lord, who owned about one hundred and seventy 







449 



450 The World's Greatest Street 

thousand acres in Columbia County. Johannes Van 
Rensselaer formed the Claverack tract into the Lower 
Manor of Rensselaerswyck, The first settler at Claver- 
ack was Jan Frans Van Hoesen in 1662, and the first 
English grant was to Major Abraham Staats by Governor 
Nicolls, March 25, 1667. He must have been settled 
here some time before this, however; for in 1664, during 
a war between the Mohicans ^nd the Mohawks, we read 
of the former destroying cattle at Greenbush, burning 
the house of Abraham Staats at Claverack, and ravaging 
the whole east side of the river. The two Labadists, 
Danckers and Sluyter, who visited Claverack in 1680, 
state there are fine farms under cultivation, speak of 
the fertility of the soil and of the abundance of deer, 
wild turkeys, grapes, etc., and say the settlers are well 
provided. 

After the fiasco with the Palatines on Livingston 
Manor, many of them came and settled in Claverack. 
It became the first county-seat of Columbia County; 
and the court-house, erected in 1786, is still standing. 
The county-seat was removed to Hudson in 1805. 
General James Watson Webb was bom within the 
town, and Samuel J. Tilden was born in New Lebanon, 
not far away. 

Kinderhook {kinder, children, and hoeck, a neck of 
land) received its name from the Dutch from the num- 
ber of Indian children seen playing on the banks of 
the river by some of the early navigators of the 
stream. The town formerly extended to the river bank, 
but the town of Stuyvesant was cut off from it in 1823. 
The village, through which the ancient road passes, is 
some six miles from the river. About a mile and a 
half south of the village centre is " Lindenwald, " built 
in 1797 by Judge William P. Van Ness, who was 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 451 

Burr's second in his duel with Hamilton. Washington 
Irving was a frequent visitor at the judge's house and 
did a good deal of his literary work there, including 





THF VAN BUREN MONUMENT, KINDERHOOK 

Rip Van Winkle and A Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The 
scenes of the latter are actually laid in Kinderhook, 
and the characters are drawn from people that Irving 
knew. Jesse Merwin, the village schoolmaster and a 



452 The World's Greatest Street 

personal friend of Irving's, furnished the character 
of Ichabod Crane, though Merwin's personality was 
not like that of the Yankee pedagogue; Katrina Van 
Alen was the Katrina Van Tassel of the story, and 
Brom Bones was supplied by another resident of the 
neighborhood. 

In 1 84 1, after his retirement from office, Martin 
Van Buren, eighth President of the United States, came 
back to his birthplace and bought the Van Ness estate, 
which he named " Lindenwald. " Here he kept open 
house and was visited by many of the leading men of 
the country, being assisted in dispensing hospitality 
by his son, who was dubbed "Prince John." Van 
Buren was spoken of by his fellow Democrats as "The 
Sage of Kinderhook," but his political rivals referred 
to him as "The Old Fox of Kinderhook." Irving was 
a visitor during Van Buren's occupancy of the mansion 
and continued his literary work as in the days of his 
former visits. In company with Van Buren, he visited 
the Catskills for the first time, and found them to agree 
with the description he had given years before in Rip Van 
Winkle. Van Buren died here and is buried in the old 
cemetery close to the post-road, north of the village 
centre. 

The first grants of land in Kinderhook were made by 
Colonel Nicolls to Evert Luycas and Jan Hendrick 
Bruyn of two parcels of land south of a point known as 
Kinderhook and near the bouwerie of Captain Abraham 
Staats (Claverack). Before 1670 other grants were 
made, and the Dutch began to come in as settlers. 
November 3, 1685, Peter Schuyler received a patent from 
Dongan for eight hundred acres of land, previously 
bought from the Indians, lying south of Rensselaers- 
wyck, about two thousand paces over the New England 




453 



454 The World's Greatest Street 

path.* Upon petition of the inhabitants, Governor 
Dongan granted a patent for the town of Kinderhook, 
March 14, 1686. 

Kinderhook and Rhinebeck are mentioned as early 
as 1656 by Van Der Donck; yet, old as Kinderhook is, 
it was visited by hostile Indians in comparatively recent 
times. In the year 1755, while some half dozen of the 
inhabitants were working in the fields, they were fired 
upon by several Indians; whereupon the whites ran for 
their arms and killed two of the intruders. Soon after, 
thirty or forty Indians appeared, but they were pursued 
and driven off by Robert Livingston and forty men. As 
late as 1 764, the Indians attacked a family of six persons 
near Kinderhook and wounded and scalped a man named 
Gardner, who, however, survived; the Indians were 
driven off. 

Among the interesting relics of Kinderhook are the 
old covered bridge across the creek over which the 
stages used to rumble, and several old houses, among them 
the Van Alen house, the home of Katrina, which was 
erected before 1735. Another ancient house is the Van 
Schaack place, opposite the Dutch Church, built in 1774. 
Montgomery, Jay, Hamilton, Schuyler, Chancellor Kent, 
and General Burgoyne have been guests here, the last 
when a prisoner on his way to Boston ; and in later days. 
Clay, Irving, Thomas H. Benton, David Wilmot (of 
"Proviso" fame), and Charles Sumner. 

* The old Indian path to New England was afterwards developed into a 
bridle path and was shortened, as it was the custom of the Indians to go 
around all obstacles, as mountains and swamps, taking the easiest way. 
The whites built corduroy roads over the soft places and scaled the hills. 
After all these years, roadbuilders have realized that the "easiest way 'round 
is the shortest way (in time) across" where hills are concerned, and that the 
Indians had the right idea of saving themselves labor. A part of the old 
path became the route of the Boston and Albany Railroad when it was built. 




455 



456 



The World's Greatest Street 



Between Claverack and Kinderhook, but several 
miles away on the river bank is the city of Hudson, which, 
though off the ancient post-road, was the most important 
place between Poughkeepsie and Albany on the later 
one which made a detour at Blue Store to pass through 
it, coming back to Kinderhook by way of Stuyvesant 
Falls. 

Hudson was formerly a part of Claverack and was in- 




STUYVESANT FALLS 



eluded in the patent given on May 14, 1667, by Colonel 
Nicolls to Jan Frans Van Hoesen, who bought from the 
Indians in 1662. It was known in later days as Claverack 
Landing. Early in the year 1783 there came to Claverack 
Landing a party of New Englanders, principally from 
Newport, Providence, and Nantucket, who had been 
engaged in the whaling industry which had been ruined 
by the Revolution. They formed an association limited 
to thirty members and were well supplied with means. 
They bought the land from the Dutch owners and began 
the building of a town systematically laid out and con- 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 457 

ducted. The leading spirit of the undertaking was 
Thomas Jenkins, ably seconded by his brother Seth; and 
of the same name, there appeared among the associates, 
Marshall, Charles, Deborah, and Lemuel. 

Many of the associates were Quakers, and their 
object was to form a commercial settlement. Clay pits 
were opened and the manufacture of bricks was begun 
and within a year after landing, regular trade was carried 




TOLL GATE, HUDSON, N. Y. 



on with New York. In 1785, it was the second port in 
the State of New York, with two shipyards and an im- 
portant trade with the West Indies, a trade that was 
ruined by our own Embargo and Non-Intercourse acts, 
by the opposing decrees of Napoleon and the British 
Council, prohibiting trade with the allies of the other 
under threat of seizure and confiscation of vessel and 
cargo, and by the War of 18 12. The first neWvSpaper 
was published March 31, 1785; and on April twenty- 
second of the same year, one and one half years after 
the first arrival of the New Englanders, Hudson was 



458 The World's Greatest Street 

incorporated as a city with a population of fifteen hun- 
dred. By January, 1786, an aqueduct to provide the 
city with pure water from the hills back of the city had 
been constructed ; and in 1 790 Hudson had become a port 
of entry and remained so until 1815. In 1786 Benjamin 
Faulkner, an English brewer, established a brewery and 
dubbed his beverage "Hudson Ale." About all that 
Hudson is famous for to-day is the output of the same 
brewery, or its successor, under the name of Evans' 
Cream Ale. So remarkable was the early growth of 
the city that strangers visited it to see for them- 
selves the truth of the wonderful stories they had heard 
about it. The decadence of the city was almost as 
rap'd as its rise; and one is reminded of the old 
saying about "going up like a rocket and coming down 
like a stick." 

When I visited the city some years ago, riding down 
on my bicycle from Stuyvesant Falls, I was reminded 
o2 Tennyson's lines in Enid: 

Beheld the long street of a little town 
In a long valley, 

and I find in the history of the city a similar comment 
by a visitor of 1807. In 1806, the Highland Turnpike 
Company opened the South Bay Road to Blue Store, 
and the northerly road by way of Stuyvesant Falls to 
Kinderhook was opened about the same time. Lafayette 
was received here with great honor in 1824. Hudson 
is the birthplace of two heroes, one naval, the other 
military. The first was Lieutenant William Henry 
Allen of the United States Navy, who was executive 
officer of the frigate United States in her memorable 
fight with the Macedonian during the War of 18 12. 
Allen afterwards commanded the Argus and took many 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 459 

prizes, cruising in English waters as Paul Jones had done. 
He was killed in the action with the Peacock in 18 13. 

. . . Pride of his country's chivalry, 
His fame their hope, his name their battle-cry; 
He lived as mothers wish their sons to live, 
He died as fathers wish their sons to die. 

Halleck. 

The military hero is Major-General William Jenkins 
Worth, who took part in the War of 18 12, in the Mexican 
War, and in the Indian wars, and whose monument 
stands at Broadway and Twenty-fifth Street in New 
York. Sanford GifTord, the distinguished landscape 
artist and a member of the Seventh Regiment during 
the Civil War, was long a resident of Hudson. 

From Kinderhook, the old post-road continues on 
through Rensselaer County, passing through Valatie, 
Niverville and South Schodac to Schodac Centre, where 
it joins the old post-road connecting Boston and Albany, 
over which it passes to Greenbush, about seven miles 
from where it enters the Boston Road. We are fairly 
within the manor of Rensselaerswyck, the ancient domain 
of the Van Rensselaer family, the greatest landowners 
in the province of New York. 

In 1629, the Dutch West India Company, in order 
to effect permanent agricultural colonization in New 
Netherland, granted a charter of "Privileges and ex- 
emptions" to any member of the company who would 
within four years plant a colony of fifty persons anywhere 
within New Netherland, except on Manhattan Island. 
These wealthy grantees were termed patroons, and 
they were entitled to rule their colonies in almost feudal 
style. The first director of the company to take ad- 
vantage of the offer was Kilian Van Rensselaer, a wealthy 



460 



The World's Greatest Street 



merchant of Amsterdam in Holland, who, by means of 
his agents, managed to secure upwards of seven hundred 
thousand acres of land on both sides of the Hudson 
in the vicinity of Albany, then called Fort Orange. The 
first purchase was made on the east side of the river in 
July, 1630, the first settlers were sent out the same year, 




THE OLD COURT HOUSE, CLAVERACK, N. Y. 



and the colony was named Rensselaerswyck. Adrien 
Van der Donck was the second sheriff of the colony, 
and Anthony Van Corlaer had special charge of Indian 
affairs. So just and so humane was he in his dealings 
with the Iroquois that his name became to them the 
synonym for fair treatment; and so much did he repre- 
sent to them the power of the white men that the gover- 
nors and agents for Indian affairs were always called 
Curler until the Confederacy of the Six Nations lost its 
power. 

Stuyvesant became jealous of the power and wealth 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 461 

of the patroon, whose influence was even greater than 
his own, and compelled Van Rensselaer to divide his 
domain into five parts, taking in co-directors who formed 
a council for the government of the patroon' s colony; 
but Van Rensselaer kept the lion's share for himself. 
The first patroon never visited his gigantic holdings, 
but was represented by agents. The present town of 
Rensselaer, formerly called Greenbush (from the Dutch 
Het Greene Bosch, "the pine woods") and East Albany, 
fell to Director De Laet and was, in consequence, known 
as De Laet's Burg, and also as Cralo and Crawlier. Some 
settlers had already located here as early as 1628. In 
1678 Governor Andros granted a patent for the Manor 
of Rensselaerswyck to the heirs of the first patroon, 
and this was confirmed by Dongan on November 4, 
1685. In 1 69 1 the first manor-lord conveyed the Cralo 
estate in Greenbush and the Claverack tract to his brother 
Johannes, who formed the latter into the Lower Manor. 
Fort Cralo in Greenbush is supposed to be the oldest 
habitation erected by Europeans now standing within 
the United States and to have been erected as a manor- 
house and place of defence in 1642. It was used by 
General Abercrombie as his headquarters when he was 
preparing to march against Ticonderoga in 1758. While 
mobilizing his army the English officers were much 
amused at the straggling appearance of the provincials; 
and the particularly uncouth looks and demeanor of the 
Connecticut levies provoked Dr. Shackbury, a surgeon 
with the English, to write the words of "Yankee Doodle" 
to the old tune of "Lucy Locket lost her pocket. " Some 
of Burgoyne's captured troops were quartered in the 
building while passing through Greenbush on their 
way to Boston, and probably heard more of the derisive 
tune than they wanted to; for it had been adopted by 



462 



The World's Greatest Street 



the Continentals almost as a national anthem. Fort 
Cralo is now owned by the Daughters of the American 
Revolution. During the War of 18 12, Greenbush was 
the rendezvous for the troops engaged in the northern 
campaign, and extensive barracks, magazines, and store- 
houses were erected by the government. 

Henry Hudson, in his exploration up the river which 




FORT CRALO MANSION, RENSSELAER 

bears his name, ascended in the Half-Moon almost to 
the site of the present city of Albany and sent Hendrick 
Chry stance in a small boat farther up the stream. Chrys- 
tance went up as far as the present Troy, and was probably 
the first Dutchman to land upon the site of Albany. 
The first traders who came in the following years found 
the remains of a French fort on Castle Island and erected 
a new fort for their own protection from the Indians 
on the same site; this was swept away in a freshet in 
1 61 7. The first agricultural colony sent out by the 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 463 

company located at Albany in 1623. Fort Orange was 
built the same year and a treaty was made with the 
Indians to buy their land and for the fur trade. The 




;ccvQX£'j ^ a c irc.n g^ »aK>^;(;t^j: 



PLAN OF ALBANY, 1 695 

Indian name of the place was Scagh-negh-ta-da, meaning 
"the end of the pine woods"; a name which can be 
recognized to-day in that of Schenectady The fort 
was located at the foot of the present State Street, but was 
removed in later days to the top of the hill where the 



464 



The World's Greatest Street 



Capitol now stands. In time a collection of rude houses 
grew up about the fort on the river bank, and the whole 
was surrounded by a stockade, the gates of which were 
closed every day at nightfall. 

Even as late as 1689, Albany is described as a stock- 





A VIEW OF ALBANY FROM THE BRIDGE 

I* 

aded village with two cross streets, one called "Jonk- 
heer's Straat" (now State), and the other, "Hendalaer's 
Straat" (now Broadway), extending along the river 
bank. At the junction of State and Market (Broadway) 
streets was the old Dutch stone church. It stood in 
the middle of State Street and was enlarged in 1715 
by building a new and larger church around and over 
the old and smaller one, where the services went on 
undisturbed. In 1806 the edifice was razed, and the 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 465 

materials were used in the construction of a new church 
between Hudson and Beaver Streets. 

The first name given to the settlement was the Fuyck, 
probably referring to a bend in the river where fish were 
caught; but in 1634 the name was changed to Beverwyck 
(Beavertown), or "a place for beavers." Upon the 




THE GOVERNOR S HOUSE, ALBANY 



English occupation in 1664 the name was changed to 
Albany in honor of the lord-proprietor's Scotch title, 
Duke of Albany. In 1673, when the Dutch had control 
again, the fort was renamed Nassau and the settlement, 
Willemstadt ; but the town and fort resumed their former 
names when the English came back. The first ferry 
was estabHshed to Greenbush in 1642, and the first 
bridge was completed in December, 1804. 

From the beginning of its existence, Albany was a 
place of vast importance as a trading-post, located as it 



466 The World's Greatest Street 

was at the mouth of the fur country; but the restrictions 
upon the trade within the town drove many of the mer- 
chants to Schenectady, where they could intercept the 
furs on their way to Albany in the canoes of the savages. 
During the various French wars, the town was of great 
importance, as most of the expeditions gathered at 
Albany before marching against the French at Ticon- 
deroga, Crown Point, or the shores of Lake Ontario; and 
its position gave the English control of the warlike tribes 
of the Iroquois and especially of their nearest and fiercest 
neighbors, the Mohawks. Governor Sloughter visited 
the city during his short term of office and wrote: "If 
the French should assault and gain Albany, all the 
English colonies on both sides of us would be endangered. 
For we have nothing but that place that keeps our In- 
dians steady to us." 

The first of the Rensselaerswyck settlers located 
close to Fort Orange, and the fort and village were in 
danger of being swallowed up by the patroon; but in 
1652 Stuyvesant granted a charter to Beverwyck and 
defined its bounds at six hundred paces from the stockade 
and thus released Albany from the danger of ever coming 
under the feudal jurisdiction of Rensselaerswyck. In 
1686 Governor Dongan granted a charter to the city 
of Albany at the same time that he gave one to the city 
of New York. In 1754 a convention composed of dele- 
gates from seven of the colonies met at Albany for the 
purpose of making closer treaties with the Six Nations 
and to formulate some plan for the united action of the 
colonies with the British regulars in the war then im- 
pending with the French. Franklin proposed his famous 
plan of union for the colonies, which was rejected by the 
provincial assemblies because it did not go far enough, 
and by the Lords of Trade, under whose auspices the 



Columbia and Rensselaer Counties 467 

convention was held, because it went too far in rendering 
the colonies independent of the mother-country. 

During the Revolution, the seat of government was 
moved from place to place as the exigencies of the war 
determined. When New York City became the capital 




THF CITY HALL, ALBANY 

of the nation, it also became the capital of the State, 
and remained so until 1798, when the capital was removed 
to Albany, where it has been ever since. The capitol 
building was erected in 1803. Then came the building 
of the Erie and other canals and the invention of the 
steam railway, making Albany a great commercial 
centre and settling and developing the interior of the 
State; so that New York became the first State in the 
Union in wealth and population. Following the custom. 



468 The World's Greatest Street 

of the lavish expenditure of money which the great Civil 
War left as a legacy to us, it was considered that a new 
and larger capitol, commensurate with the wealth and 
dignity of the State, was necessary; and work was begun 
upon the new capitol building in July, 1869, resulting 
in one of the finest buildings of any kind to be found 
in the United States. And it should be; for it took 
between twenty-five and thirty years to build, during 
which there were numerous scandals in connection with 
its construction, and about as many millions of dollars 
were expended as it took years to build. It is constructed 
principally of white marble, papier-mache, and steaL In 
late years other fine buidings have been erected for 
State purposes ; but there is one that is conspicuous by 
its absence — a well-lighted, fireproof structure to house 
the invaluable archives and records of the State, which 
for many years have been stored in any damp, ill-lighted 
vault or room which could be spared, and which have 
been wantonly, carelessly, and ignorantly treated, and 
in some cases, destroyed. 

Some months after the above paragraph was in type, 
there occurred a disaster at the State Capitol which still 
further emphasizes the need of an adequate building for 
the storage of the relics and historic documents belonging 
to the State. On the morning of the twenty-ninth of 
March, 191 1, the Capitol caught fire, and there was an 
estimated money loss of over five millions; and a great 
many of the State papers were destroyed, and others 
were badly injured. These, of course, cannot be re- 
placed ; but fortunately, owing to the efforts of the State 
historians and archivists mentioned in the earlier part of 
this work, most of these documents are still accessible in 
the codified volumes issued from time to time under 
various administrations. 



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Munsell, Joel. Annals of the City of Albany. Albany, 1871. 



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Newspapers. Back files of New York weeklies and dailies, eighteenth, 

nineteenth, and the present century. (Lenox, Astor, Society, and 

Mechanics' Libraries.) 
O'Callaghan, E. B. The Documentary History of the State of New York. 

4 vols., Albany, 1849. 
Pasko, W. W. Old New York, a Journal relating to the History and An- 
tiquities of New York City. 2 vols.. New York, 1899. 
Pierce, Carl Horton. New Harlem, Past and Present. New York, 

1903. 
Post, John J. Old Streets, Roads, Lanes, Piers, and Wharves of New 

York. New York, 1882. 
Putnam, George Haven. George Palmer Putnam, 1814-1872. Privately 

printed, 2 vols., New York and London, 1903. 
Randall, S. S. A History of the State of New York. New York, 1870. 
Riker, James. Harlem, Its Origin and Early Annals. New York, 1881. 
Roosevelt, Theodore. New York. (Historic Towns Series.) New 

York, 1895. Gouverneur Morris. (American Statesmen Series.) 

Boston, 1888. 
Sabine, Lorenzo. Biographical Sketches of the Loyalists of the American 

Revolution. 2 vols., Boston, 1864. 
Saxe, John Godfrey, The Poetical Works of. Boston, 1850. 
Scharf, J. Thomas, LL.D. History of Westchester County, New York. 

2 vols., Philadelphia, 1884. 
Schuyler, Philip. Colonial New York, and Philip Schuyler and His 

Family. New York, 1885. 
Scoville, Joseph A., psuedonym, Walter Barrett. The Old Merchants 

of New York. New York, 4 vols., 1863. 
Shonnard, Frederic, and W. W. Spooner. History of Westchester 

County, New York. New York, 1900. 
SiMCOE, Lieutenant-Colonel John G., of the Royal Army, The 

Military Journal of. New York, 1844 
Smith, Emma A. F. Washington's Headquarters — the Roger Morris 

House. New York, 1908. 
Smith, P. H. General History of Dutchess County, New York. Pawling, 

1877. 

Smith, Richard. Four Great Rivers. (lydp.) Edited from Smith's 
diary by Frederick W. Halsey, New York, 1906. 

Smith, Judge William. A History of New York from the First Discovery 
to the Year 1732. London, 1793. 

State Historian. Ecclesiastical Records of the State of New York. 
Albany, 4 vols., 1901. 

Stone, William Leete. History of New York City. New York, 1872. 

Sylvester, N. B. History of Rensselaer County, New York. Phila- 
delphia, 1880. 



Bibliography 473 

Terhune, Mrs. Christine Herrick, pseudonym, Marian Harland. 
Some Colonial Homesteads and Their Stories. New York, 1897. 

Todd, Charles Burr. The Story of the City of New York. New York, 
1895. 

Ullman, Albert. A Landmark History of New York. New York, 1903 

Valentine, David. History of the City of New York. New York, 1853. 
Manuals of the City of New York (commonly called Valentine's Manuals). 
Those having special reference to Broadway are the manuals of 1857, 
1858, 1859, i860 (The Surveying and Laying out of the Roads), 1862, 1864 
(History of the Fort of New York) and 1 865 (History of Broadway) . 

Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler. History of the City of New York. 
2 vols.. New York, 1909. 

W-A-TSON, John F. Pictorial History of New York. Philadelphia, 1840. 
A nnals and Occurrences of New York City and State, in the Olden Time, 
Philadelphia, 1846. 

Wild, James. "The New York City Hall." The Century, April, 1884, 

Wilson, James Grant, editor. The Memorial History of the City of New 
York. 4 vols., New York, 1892. 

Wilson, Rufus Rockwell. New York, Old and New. 2 vols., Phila- 
delphia, 1902. 



INDEX 



Abbey, Henry E., manager Star 
T., 210; Park T., 234; Knicker- 
bocker T., 260; Met. Opera H., 
260 

Abbey, the, roadhouse, 295 

Abercrombie, Gen., hdqrs. at Ft. 
Cralo, 461 

Abingdon Road, 234 

Ackerman, Jane, 266 

Ackert, Wolfert, builds Wolfert's 
Rust (Roost), 366 

Adams, Maude, 261 

Adams, Mrs. John, quoted, 189 

Adder Cliff, at Poughkeepsie, 424 

Ad\'ertisements, 77; of estate near 
Bloomingdale, 286 

Aertsen, Huyck, grant from Kieft, 
328 

Ainslee's restaurant, 186 

Albany, fort, 2; State capital, 26, 
467; stages, 144; distance to, 
145; view of Nieuw Orange, 447; 
called Ft. Orange, 460, 463; 
Indian name of, 463; description 
in 689, 464; Dutch name of, 
465; named by English, 465; 
Dutch regain possession, 465; 
trading-post, 465 ; governors' 
house, 465; during French wars, 
466; controls the Iroquois, 466; 
city charter, 466; colonial con- 
vention, 466; City Hall, 467; 
commercial centre, 467; first 
Capitol, 467; present Capitol, 
468; its scandalous construction, 
468; fire in, 468 

Albany County, formation and 
extent, 436 

Albany Post-road, old Indian trail, 
344; act establishing, 344; course, 



344. 345r 348, 353. 381, 387. 394. 
401, 407, 415, 422, 430, 437, 
445. 447.. 450, 459; overseers, 
344; Philipse maintains, 346; 
junction with Boston road, 353; 
under Highland Turnpike Co., 
360, 401, 407; fine estates on, 370, 
394, 434; Andre monument, 373; 
joins Boston-Albany road, 459 

Aldermen, Board of (or Common 
Council), 114; tea parties, 116, 
117; calls meeting, 121, 122; 
"Forty Thieves," 229; grants 
franchise for Broadway railway, 
229, 230; arrested for bribery, 
232 

Aldrich, Thomas Bailev, at Pfaff's, 
189 

Alipconck, Indian village on Po- 
cantico, 372, 381 

Allen, Lieut., messenger to Arnold, 
400, 408 

Allen, Lieut. Wm. Henry, U. S. N., 
his career, 458; Halleck's lines 
on his death, 459 

AUerton, Isaac, warehouse, 9; farm, 

ID 

Almshouse, 90, 95; new, 95; old, 
demoHshed, 96; removed, 96; be- 
comes N. Y. Institution, 96; 
American Museum, 96 

Amen Corner, at 5th Ave. Hotel, 
240; dinners of, 241 

American Geographical Society, 
new building, 316 

American Horse Exchange, 268; 
history of, 272 

American Hotel, 99 

American League Park, baseball, 

323 
American Museum, Scudder's, 96; 
Barnum's, site of, 104 



475 



476 



Index 



American Numismatic Society, new 
building, 316 

American prisoners, 92-94, 105 

Amsterdam, Fort, 12 

Amsterdam, New, named, 12 

Anderson, Elbert, 176 

Andr^, Alaj. John, correspondence 
with Arnold, 44; funeral, 82; 
361; monument, 373, 374; story 
of his capture, 374-380; writes 
letter to Washington, 378; trial 
and execution, 378, 380; inter- 
view with Arnold, 385, 392, 417; 
crosses King's Ferry, 393; stops 
at Dusenberry's tavern, 399; 
taken to N. Salem, 400; capture 
announced to Arnold, 408 

Andros, Gov. Edmund, fills in 
Broad St., 8; grants flour mono- 
poly, 51 ; grants lands in Harlem, 
309; permits Livingston to buy 
lands from Indians, 438; grants 
patent for Rensselaerswyck, 461 

Annsville Creek, 401, 402 

Anthony's Nose, location, 402; 
picture of, 403; Irving's story 
of the origin of the name, 402-404 

Anti-Leislerians, poHtical party, 18; 
hdqrs., 45 

Anti-Masonry, 163 

Anti-rent wars on Livingston and 
Rensselaer manors, 442 

Apollo Ballroom, 212; hdqrs. Wood 
Democracy, 212; dancing, 213 

Appleton, D., & Co., pulDhshers, 
74. 75. i65 

Apthorpe, Charles Ward, mansion, 
284, 285; sketch of, 286; estate 
becomes Elm Park, 286; house 
hdqrs. of Washington, 288; hdqrs. 
of Howe, 288, 305 

Archer, John, village of Fordham, 340 

Archives, State, codified by State 
historian, 4; necessity for proper 
care of, 468 

Argall, first Englishman to visit 
Manhattan L, 8 

Armies, allied, grand reconnaisance, 
353. 354; feint upon New York, 
354; march to Yorktown, Va., 
355; advance through Yonkers, 360 

Armstrong, Gen. John, Rokeby 
estate, 433; sketch of, 433; 
famous privateer named after 
him, 434 



Arnold, Gen. Benedict, 44; plan 
to capture, 46, 47; pass to Andre, 
376; meeting with Andre, 378, 
380; escapes to the British, 378, 
409; interview with Andre, 385, 
392, 417; his treason, 397; com- 
mander in the Highlands, 397; 
hdqrs., 408 

Arnold, George, at Pfaff's, 189 

Aronson, Rudolph, manager, 261 

Arsenal, U. S., at Madison Square, 
238 

Arthur, Pres't Chester A., at 5th 
Ave. Hotel, 240 

Articles of Confederation ratified 
by State, 425 

Asbury, Bishop, preaches at Van 
Cortlandt Manor, 392 

Ashburton, Lord, reception at City 
Hall, 115 

Asia, the, threatens to bombard 
N. Y., 22, 108 

Aspinwall, Wm. H., acquires Phil- 
ipse's Castle, 381 

Astor House, 66, 137; erected, 138, 
139; visitors at, 139; "Bache- 
lors' " ball, 139; departure of 
6th Mass. Reg't, 139, 140, 142; 
popular resort, 142; 157, 183 

Astor, John Jacob, 137, 176, 226, 
266; builds Astor House, 138; 
farm, 298; acquires Roger Morris 
property, 319 

Astor Place riot, 196 

Astor, Wm. B., acquires Rokeby, 

434 
Atlantic cable celebration, 115 
Atlantic Garden, 46 
Auchm.uty, Rev., dedicates St. 

Paul's, 71 
Audubon, John James, picture of 

house, 313; cross in Trinity 

Cemetery, 314; residence of, 

315 
Audubon Park, 310, 315 



B 



Babcock, Luke, rector at Yonkers, 
357; maltreated by patriots, 357 

Bacon, Judge, anecdote of, foot- 
note, 57 

Badeau, Gen. Adam, resident of 
Mt. Pleasant, 369 

Baker & Scribner, 208 



Index 



477 



Baker, Senator, at Union Sq. 

meeting, 226 
Ball, Bachelors', at Astor House, 

139 

Ball, Black & Co., 161 

Ballston Spa, 242 

Bangs, Richards & Piatt, auc- 
tioneers, 75 

Bank, first savings, 96 

Banquets — to Sir Charles Hardy, 62 ; 
King's College, 63; St. Andrew's 
Society, 64; to Washington, 66; 
Publishers' Association, 66; naval 
heroes, 66; Irving, 66, 67; Charles 
Dickens, 67; Prince de Joinville, 
139; Capt. Lawrence, 153 

Bardin, Edward, tavern-keeper, 45 

Barnard College, 302 

Barnum, Phineas T., Am. Museum, 
194; hires Vauxhall, 194; ac- 
quires Scudder's, 196; turnt 
out, 199; reopens at Melodeon 
Hall, 211; burnt out again, 2 1 1 

Barracks, in City Hall Park, 118; 
on Chambers St., 152 

Barre coins term, "Sons of Lib- 
erty," 97 

Barrett, Lawrence, at Star T., 210 

Barrett, Wilson, at Star T., 210 

Barrow, James, farm, 310 

Bartholdi, statue of Lafayette, 224 

Bartolph, Dominie Guillaume, at 
Sleepy Hollow Church, 383 

Battery, the, origin of, 18, 19; 
favorite resort, 19 

Bayard, Nicholas, colonel of train- 
bands, 17; brings about death 
of Leisler, 437 

Bayard, Alderman Nicholas, sells 
lots on Broadway, 68; farm, 175; 
it becomes Vauxhall garden, 194 

Bayard, Peter, leases Bowling 
Green, 19 

Becket, Harry, at Wallack's T., 
210 

Beechcr, Henry Ward, resident of 
Peekskill, 370 

Beekman farm, 310 

Beekman's swamp, leather dis- 
trict, 77, 431 

Beekman, Gerard G., acquires 
Philipse's Castle, 381 

Beekman (or Beekman), Col. Henry, 
acquires Rhinebeck, 431; extent 
of grant, 432 



Beekman (or Beekman), Wm., 
comes to New Amsterdam with 
Stuyvesant, 431 

Bellomont, Gov. Lord, body ex- 
humed, 25; stops privateering, 
43; refuses to sign act for Jansen 
heirs, 338; quoted in regard to 
Kidd's treasure, 346; friendly to 
Livingston, 437; reports on Liv- 
ingston Manor, 439 

Benckes, Admiral, retakes N. Y. 
for the Dutch, 16 

Bennett, James Gordon, 156; ac- 
quires site of Barnum's Museum, 
199; estate at Washington 
Heights, 315 

Bennett, James Gordon, 2d, gives 
land for Ft. Washington me- 
morial, 328 

Benton, Senator Thos. H., guest 
at Van Schaack house, 454 

Beraud & Mondon, booksellers, 

75 

Bernhardt, Sara, at Knickerbocker 
T., 210 

Berrien, John, injured on the 
Commons, loi 

Berrien's Neck, 345 

Beverwyck, Dutch name for Al- 
bany, 465; Stuyvesant gives 
charter to, 466 

Bial, Rudolph, manager, 261 

Bierstadt, Albert, resident of Dobbs 
Ferry, 370 

Birch, Harvey, interview with 
Washington, 412; escapes from 
Wharton House, 419 

Birch, Wambold & Backus, San 
Francisco Minstrels, 250 

Black Crook, the, at Niblo's, 204 

Blaine, James G., in presidential 
campaign, 240 

Bliss, Elam, bookseller, 74 

Blitz, Signor, magician, 218 

Block, Adrien, explorer, 2 

Blommaert's Vly, 6, 34 

Bloomer, company and costume, 
211 

Bloomingdale, omnibuses, 145, 146, 
274; insane asylum, removed to, 
150; road, 220, 234, 238, 242, 
258, 264, 266, 274, 288, 316, 320; 
course of road, 296, 298, 308; 
estates in, 282; De Lancey es- 
tate, 283; advertisement of sale 



478 



Index 



Bloomingdale, — (Continued) 

of estate, 286; origin of name, 
288; roadhouses, 295; asylum 
removed from, 302 

Blow, Capt., brings first stamped 
paper to city, 100 

Blue Store, 446; change house in 
coaching days, 447 

Blunt, Edw. March, resident of 
Sing Sing, 370 

Boar (or Hog) Hill occupied by 
American army, 360 

Bogardus, Dominie Everardus, 
farm, 136; marries Annetje Jans, 
136 

Bogert farm, 282 

Bolton, ta^•ern-keeper, 64 

Bomb throwing in Union Square, 
226 

Bonaparte, Jerome, entertained by 
Jumels, 319 

Bonaparte, Joseph, occupies Clare- 
mont, 300 

Bones, Brom, character of Irving's, 
368; original of, 452 

Boniface, Stella, at Wallack's T., 
210 

Booksellers and publishers, 74, 75 

Booth, Edwin, at Winter Garden 
T., 207; at Star T., 210 

Boreel Building, on site of City 
Hotel, 67 

Borough of The Bronx, English 
settlement, 8; formation, 350 

Boston Port Bill, meeting in the 
Fields, 105 

Boston Post-road, 85, 296; course, 
132, 236, 237, principal thorough- 
fare of city, 175; at Kingsbridge, 
345; Coles's nev/ road, 350 

Boston and Albany Post-road, Al- 
bany Post-road merges in, 459 

Boucicault, Dion, at Star T., 210; 
plans Park T., 235 

Bouguereau, Nymphs and Satyr, 244 

Boulevard, Western, see Broadway 

Boundary disputes with Connecti- 
cut, 8; with Massachusetts, 441 

Bouweries, see Farms 

Bowers, Arden Rosannah, farm, 310 

Bowers, Mrs. D. P., at Laura 
Keene's Varieties T., 213 

Bowery, Heerewegh leads into, 85 
part of Boston Post-road, 132 
first Belgian pavement on, 134 



sports at Bull's Head tavern, 137; 
Astor Place leads from, 178; 
"Minto" estate on, 178; Bre- 
voort estate on, 179; Vauxhall 
Garden on, 194; junction with 
Broadway, 221; Washington 
statue on, at Union Scj., 224 

Bowling Green, location, 14; market 
and fair, 15; parade, 15; sham- 
bles, 15; treaty with Indians on, 
15; Stuyvesant's surrender, 16; 
parade of train-bands, 17; De 
Pcyster statue, 18; resolution 
of Council, 19; lessees, 19; In- 
dian conference, 19, 20; post- 
office at, 21; fence, 22; George 
III.'s statue in, 22, 23; Chancel- 
lor Livingston becomes lessee, 24; 
governor's garden, 26; Jay's 
treaty and effigy burned, 26; 
leased to Rogers, 27; fountain, 
28; view of, 29; regulated, 34; 
meat market, 38; taverns, 42; 
view in 19 10, 49; enclosed, 85; 
terminus, Broadway surface 
railway, 233 

Brant, Capt., guest at Van Cort- 
landt manor-house, 392 

Bread line at Fleischmann's, 181 

Breedeweg, 31 

Brett, Roger and Madam, occupy 
Teller hou-^e, 419 

Brevoort, Elias, farm, 179, 221 

Brevoort, Hendrick, prevents cut- 
ting through of nth St., 179 

Brevoort, Henry, friend of Irving, 53 

Bridewell, site of, 92; American 
prisoners in, 92; demolition, 92 

Bridges: Broad Street, over canal, 
14; Loew, at Fulton St., 78, 79; 
Stone, at Canal St., 173, 174; 
Farmers', 329, 334, 335— built, 
339 — known as Hadley's, 339 — 
opening of, 340 — destroyed by 
British, 341; Harlem Ship Canal, 
334; King's, view of, 335, 33^— 
established by PhiHpse, 339, 346 
— used during Revolution, 339, 
344, 348; Harlem, 341 — built by 
Coles, 350; British pontoon, 341; 
Central (Macomb's dam), 348; 
Croton, 387, 391; Poughkeepsie 
cantilever, 428, 429; Roelof Jan- 
sen's Kill, 445; Kinderhook Creek, 
454; Albany-Greenbu.sh, 465 



Index 



479 



Brinckerhoff, Revolutionary mills, 

417 

British, occupy city, 24; evacuate 
city, 24, 363; fortifications, 148, 
174. 175- 341. 350; posts of 
Neutral Ground, 3f>3, 364; destroy 
Peekskill, 400; burn Kingston, 
442; destroy Clermont mansions, 

444 

British Council, injures Hudson's 
trade, 457 

Broad Street, formation of, 6, 8; 
canal, 7; called de Heere Graft, 
8; centre of population, 8; filled 
in, 8, 14; ditch, 34, 332 

Broadhurst, Samuel, farm, 310 

Broadway, first grants on, 5, 6; 
burying-ground, 6, 42; fortifica- 
tions, 9, 109, 148, 174, 175; begin- 
ning, 14; cattle fair, 15; receives 
name, 31; Breedeweg, 31; Great 
George St., 31; extent of, 31, 42, 
133, 136, 152; drainage, 34; wells, 
34, 36; pavements, 34, 134, 176, 
276; reservoir on, 36; lighting — 
gas, 37, electricity, 38; market, 
39; as business street, 41; char- 
acter of houses on, 42, 52, 68, 72, 
152, 161, 164, 176, 177; residents 
and farms on, 43, 44, 45, 48, 62, 
152, 166, 175, 176, 222, 242, 266, 
282, 298,310; regulation of houses, 
48; views of, 49, 59, 161, 185, 186, 
188; values of property, 50, 52, 
53. 68, 137, 139, 242, 252, 254, 
255; Rombout's house, 51; De 
Lancey house, 62; regulated, 62, 
68, 134, 152, 175, 180, 242, 266; 
traffic control, 78; Loew Bridge, 
78, 79; "Squad" of police, 79; 
draft riot, 128; Middle road, 129, 
^33> 175. 180, 266; development, 
134; survey, 134; ropewalk, 136; 
omnibuses, 143-147; Kip man- 
sion, 145; N. Y. Hospital, 148, 
149; booksellers and publishers, 
158; Stone Bridge, 173, 174; an 
— "accidental thoroughfare," 175; 
charms of, 189; Jewish occupancy, 
191 ; public gardens, 193, 194, 202 ; 
American Aluseum at Ann St., 
199; Bloomingdale road, 220, 234, 
238, 242, 258, 264, 266, 274, 288, 
316, 320; junction with Bowery, 
221; retail trade leaves, 222, 223; 



cable road on, 228; surface road, 
228-234; chief residential street, 
229; character changed, 232; 
Herald Sq., 253, 254; Greeley 
Sq.,254; upward trend of gayetv, 
256, 258; "Great White Way^" 
256, 257, 262; "Long Acre Sq.," 
264; the Circle, 274; Boulevard, 
274, 276, 290, 314; Lincoln Sq., 
274; Beach Pneumatic Railway, 
279; subway, 279-283; squares 
at avenue crossings, 292; Sher- 
man Sq., 292; merges in Kings- 
bridge road, 297, 308, 323; course 
of, 298, 353; "Old," 308; changes 
in upper part in last decade, 309; 
suspension bridge at Trinity ceme- 
tery, 314; Albany Post-road, 344, 

345. 348. 387. 394, 401, 407. 415. 
422, 430, 437, 445, 447, 459; S. 
Broadway in Yonkers, 355; N. 
Broadway in Yonkers, 360; High- 
land Turnpike, 360, 401, 407; 
Ichabod Crane's ride, 368; no 
trolley on, in Tarrytown, 370; 
merges in Boston-Albany Post- 
road, 459 

Brodhead, Dr. John Romeyn, 
codifies Dutch records, 4; resident 
ci Clermont, 446 

Bronk, Jonas, first settler on main- 
land, 343; gives name to Bronx 
River, 343 

Bronx, River, 62, 343; Chapter, 
D. A. R., 437 

Brooklyn ferry, 9 

Brooks, Preston, attack upon Sum- 
ner, 183 

Brougham, John, opens Lyceum T., 
208; at Wallack's T., 210 

Brower, omnibuses, 145 

Brown, Geo. Farrar (Artemus 
Ward), at Pfaff's, 189 

Brown, Henry K., sculptor, 224 

Brown, Thos. AUston, footnote, 
192; quoted, 210 

Brunei, experiments with steam- 
boats, 444 

Bruyn, Jan Hendrick, grant in 
Kinderhook, 452 

Bryant, Dan, minstrels, 193, 217 

Bryant, Wm. Cullen, editor, 74, 
155, 156, 157, 207 

Buckley, Thomas, farm, 298 

Bunker Mansion House, 51 



480 



Index 



Burchard, Rev., "Rum, Romanism, 

and Rebellion, " 240 
Burgoyne, Gen. John, invasion, 

425, 443; prisoner at Van Schaack 

house, 452; his captured troops 

at Ft. Cralo, 461 
Burials prohibited below Canal 

St., 60 
Burke, lone, at Niblo's, 205 
Burling, Samuel, offers trees for 

Broadway', 176 
Burling, Thomas, farm, 222 
Burnall, Ebenezer, farm, 310 
Burnet, Gov., lat. and long, of 

fort, 21 
Burnham's Mansion House, 293, 

294 
Burns, George, tavern-keeper, opens 

coffee house, 63 
Burns's Coffee House, meeting at, 

21; opened, 63; lottery, 63; 

hdqrs. Sons of Liberty, 63, 104; 

non-importation agreements, 63, 

64; other meetings, 64; duel, 64; 

stamped paper displayed, 100 
Burr, Aaron, forms Manhattan 

Co., 37; friend of Vanderlyn, 129; 

guides Putnam's retreat, 133, 266; 

duel with Hamilton, 316, 321, 

45 1' 317; marries Madam Jumel, 

319; death, 321 
Burton, "Billy," manager, 184, 207 
Burton, Deborah, farm, 266 
Burying Ground, location, 6, 42; 

partitioned, 50; closure, 60 
Butler, Wm. Allen, resident of 

Yonkers, 368 
Byrd, James, farm, 310 



Cable road in Broadway, 228 

Cafe de I'Opera, 258, 259 

Cafe des Milles Colonnes, opened 

by Pinteaux, 183 
Cafe Martin, formerly Delmonico's, 

248 
Cahoone, grocer, 164 
Call Rock at Poughkeepsie, 424 
Campbell minstrels, 193 
Camps, East and West, Palatine 

settlements, 439, 440 
Canal, Erie, 115, 467; plans for 

East River-Hudson, 332, 333; 

Harlem Ship, 334 



Cape, John, tavern-keeper, 66 
Capital, N. Y. City, 25, 26, 467; 
\'arious places, 467; removed to 
Albany, 467 
Capitol, 463; first at Albany 467; 
scandalous construction of pres- 
ent, 468; injury by fire, 468 
Capshe rocks, foundation for the 

Battery, 18 
Capture of Andr6, story of, 373-380 
Carey, Matthew, publisher, 66 
Carleton, Gen. Sir Guy, hdqrs., 44; 
buries Montgomery's body, 72; 
meets Washington at Dobbs 
Ferry, 363 
Carman, David, estate on Washing- 
ton Heights, 309 
Carmansville, Washington Heights, 

Carr, Capt., Colve's messenger, 86 
Carter & Brothers, booksellers, 75 
Carter, James C, counsel for Jacob 

Sharp, 232 
Carvell, G. & C, booksellers, 74 
Castle Island, fort, 2, 462; re- 
mains of French fort, 462 
Cat Hill, in the Highlands, 408 
Causeway at Macomb St., Kings- 
bridge, 345, 348 
Cemeteries: Dutch burying-ground, 
6, 42, 50, 60; Trinity graveyard, 
60, 61, 64, 70; vSt. Paul's grave- 
yard, 25 , 70-73 ; Trinity : Knowlton 
and Leitch buried, 306, 310 — sus- 
pension bridge, 311,31 4 — opening 
of, 314 — Audubon cross, 314 — 
John A. Dix grave, 314; Sleepy 
Hollow, Dutch and Revolution- 
ary burials, 384 — Irving's grave; 
384; St. Peter's at Cortland t- 
ville, Paulding and Pomeroy 
monuments, 398; Kinderhook, 
gra\e of Van Burcn, 451, 452 
Central Park, developed, 126; 288; 

fortifications, 124, 307 
Century House, built by Jan 
Nagel, 340; terminus of Harlem 
River boats, 341 
Chain across Hudson, 397, 410 
Chambers, Capt., brings tea to 

N. Y., 106 
Chambers, John, leases the Bowling 

Green, 19 
Champe, Sergeant, plot to capture 
Arnold, 46-48 



Index 



481 



Chanfrau, Frank, at Olympic T., 
200 

Charitable Institutions: House of 
Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents, 
238, 314; Sheltering Arms, 310; 
Hebrew Orphan Asylum, 310; 
Montefiore Home, 310, 312; Col- 
ored Orphan Asylum, 312; Deaf 
and Dumb Asylum, 312 

Charlton, Dr., 52 

Chastellux, Marquis dc, description 
of Fishkill, 418 

Chelsea Village, 228, 234 

Chimney sweeps, 40 

Cholera, visitations of, 129 

Christian Brothers (R. C.), Man- 
hattan Coll., 308; St. Joseph's 
Normal School at Tarrytown, 372 

Christiensen, explorer with Block, 2 

Christy minstrels, 193 

Chrystance, Hendrick, first Dutch- 
man on sites of Albany and Troy, 
462 

Church, Established, 58 

Church farm, Trinity acquires, 136; 
race course on, 137; 173 

Church, Francis, farm, 266 

Churches: St. Nicholas, how built, 
12, 14 — burnt, 20; Dutch, in 
Garden St., Leisler and Milborne 
reburied, 18; Trinity, history of, 
58 — chimes, 59 — churchyard, 60, 
70 — graves of Lawrence, Fulton, 
and Hamilton, 60, 61 — grave of 
Charlotte Temple, 61 — prison 
martyrs' monument, 61 — Capt. 
ToUemache buried, 64 — acquires 
Queen's farm, 136 — builds St. 
Paul's Chapel, 136 — offers land 
to Lutherans, 173; German Luth- 
eran, built by Palatines, 61 — 
burnt, 61 — refuses land, 173; 
Grace, offshoot of Trinity, 61 — 
two locations, 61, 179 — view of, 
180 — prevents street cutting, 
180 — weddings, 180; St. Paul's 
Chapel, Broadway extends to, 42; 
52 — churchyard, 25, 70, 71 — 
saved from fire of 1776, 71 — tablet 
to Montgomery, 72 — view of, 73 — 
view from, 81 — erection, 136; St. 
Thomas's, 181— view of, 182 — 
bodies removed from, 314; Broad- 
way Congregational, 181; Unitar- 
ian of the Divine Unity, 182; 

31 



Church of the Messiah, 182; 
Scotch Baptist, 182; Sweden- 
borgian, 182; St. George the 
Martyr, 182; Broadway Taber- 
nacle (Cong.), 182 — view of, 184, 
271 — Alay meetings, 183 — con- 
certs, 183 — Sumner meeting, 183 
— removals, 183, 254; Blooming- 
dale Reformed Dutch, 289, 290; 
Rutgers Riverside Presbyterian, 
history of, 290, 291; St. Teresa's 
Roman Catholic, 290; Madison 
Avenue Presbyterian, 291; Christ 
Protestant Episcopal, history of, 
291; Manhattan Congregational, 
292; Blessed Sacrament (R. C), 
292; First Baptist, 292; Evangeli- 
cal Lutheran, 292; Cathedral of 
St. John the Divine (P. E.), 302; 
Annunciation (R. C), 308; St. 
George's (P. E.), bodies removed 
to Trinity Cemetery, 314; St. 
Stephen's (P. E.), bodies re- 
moved to Trinity Cemetery, 314; 
Spanish (R. C), 316; St. Luke's 
(P. E.), 316; Our Lady of 
Lourdes (R. C), Hamilton trees 
on property, 317; Holyrood 
Chapel (P. E.), increment in 
land values, 324; 325; St. Eliza- 
beth (R. C), 324; Mt. Washing- 
ton Presbyterian, 324 — view of, 
327; St. John's, Yonkers, 355 — 
part of Westchester parish, 356, 
357; — view of, 356 — erected, 356 — 
various rectors, 356, 357 — history 
of, 357; Christ (P. E.), at Tarry- 
town, tablet to Irving, 372; 373; 
Sleepy Hollow (R. D.), history of, 
382,383 — bi-centenary,384; Shep- 
ard A'lemorial, at Scarborough, 
385; St. Peter's (P. E.), at Cort- 
landtville, 398; Trinity (P. E.), 
at Fishkill, 414, 416; Reformed 
Dutch, at Fishkill, erection, 415 — ■ 
used by legislature, 415 — view 
of, 416; 422; Reformed Dutch, 
at Poughkeepsie, 425; Reformed 
Dutch, at Claverack, 448; Re- 
formed Dutch, at Kinderhook, 
452, 454; Reformed Dutch, at 
Albany, 464 

Cincinnati, Order of the, formed, 
420 

Circle, the, 274 



482 



Index 



City of New Amsterdam, Dutch 

surrender of, 10 
City Hall (old), 45; jail, 92; prison, 

94 

City Hall (new), tablet on, 108; 
erection of, no, 112; "Governors' 
Room," 114; celebrations and 
receptions in, 115; clock, 115; 
flags on, 115; cupola burnt, 116; 
N. Y. Historical Society formed, 
116; bodies lie in state, 117, 118; 
picture of, 123 
City Hall Park, 84; view of, iii, 
113; Atlantic cable celebration, 
116; subway tablet, 118; bar- 
racks, 118; meetings of War of 
1812, 121, 122; abolition and 
anti-steamboat meetings, 124; 
panic of 1837, 125; panic of 1857, 
126; draft riots, 128; attempts 
to save, 131 
City Hotel, picture, 65; erected, 66; 
first meeting of publishers, 66; 
history of, 66-68, 157; demolition, 
188 
City Library, in City Hall, 114 
Civil War, meeting in Union Square, 
226; cannon and projectiles cast 
at Cold Spring Foundry, 411 
Clapp, Henry, journalist, 189 
Claremont, 278, 295, 298, 299 
Clark, Austin & Co., booksellers, 75 
Clark & Brown, English restaurant, 

248 
Clark, Lewis Gaylord, editor, 75, 

157 

Clarke, George, at Daly's T., 251 

Clarke, McDonald, the mad poet, 
167 

Clarkson, David, 162; sells prop- 
erty, 166 

Clarkson, David M., farm, 283; 298 

Clason, Isaac, farm, 222 

Claverack, Potthoke of the Indians, 
439; Livingston buys, 439; Ful- 
ton Museum at, 444; principal 
street, 445; origin of name, 447; 
land bought in, 448 ; Lower Manor 
of Rensselaerswyck, 450, 461; 
first settlers, 450; Palatines settle 
in, 450; county seat, 450; court- 
house still standing, 450, 460 

Claverack Creek, 445 

Claverack Landing, site of the 
city of Hudson, 456 



Clay, Henry, funeral, 82; reception 
at City Hall, 115; 139; guest at 
Van Schaack house, 454 

Clermont, 437; disputed ownership, 
441 ; devised to Robt. Livingston, 
2d, 441; mansions burnt by 
British, 444; principal street, 445 

Cleveland, G rover, in presidential 
campaign, 240 

Clinton, De Witt, lessee, 27; presi- 
dent Historical Society, 116; 
president Deaf and Dumb Insti- 
tution, 312 

Clinton, Gov. George, occupies 
Government House, 26; attends 
St. Paul's, 71; funeral, 82; at 
Van Cortlandt mansion, 353; at 
Dobbs Ferry, 363; opposes Fed- 
eral Constitution, 426 

Clinton, Gov. Henry, confers with 
Indians, 19, 20 

Clinton, Gen. Sir Henry, hdqrs., 
44; directs Andre, 44; deceived 
by allied armies, 355; learns of 
Andre's capture, 378; realizes 
importance of Highlands, 397 

Clothes, 53; 54 

Clubs: Union formed, 67; Bread 
and Cheese, 154, 189; Union 
League, 227; St. George Cricket, 
248 

Cochran, Wm. F., builds Holly- 
wood Inn, 355; his widow donates 
Philipse manor-house, 357 

Coghlan, Cliarles and Rose, at 
Wallack's T., 210 

Cold Spring, 407; foundries, 411; 
origin of name, 411; Hudson 
River scenery at, 412 

Colden, A., postmaster, 21 

Colden, Cadwalader, burnt in efifigy, 
21; 64, 98, 100; secures charter 
for N. Y. Hospital, 148; at 
Blue Bell Tavern, 331; describes 
the Highlands, 406 

Coles builds Harlem bridge and 
new Boston road, 350 

Collect, the, 36, 77; common prop- 
erty, 84; view of, 85; powder- 
house in, 90; plans to drain, 
171, 172; proposed canal, 332 

Colics, Christopher, water supply 
for N. Y., 36, 166 

Colon Dofick (Donck's Colony), 
346 



Index 



483 



Colonial Dames, try to get custody 
of Morris House, 321; museum 
in Van Cortlandt mansion, 352 

Colonial landowners and merchants, 

359 . 
Columbia College and University 
(see King's Coll.), 63; reopened 
and renamed, 147; removal, 147; 
locates in Bloomingdale, 302; 
view of, 303; library built, 305; 
Earl Hall, 305; Knowlton tablet, 

305 

Columbia County, formed from 
Albany Co., 436; first road in, 
445; fane farms, 446; first county 
seat, 450; county seat removed 
to Hudson, 450 

Columbus celebration, 82 

Colve, Capt. Anthony, Dutch gov- 
ernor, 16; marches down Broad- 
wav, 16; lands at the Commons, 
86 f takes fort, 88 

Colville, Lord, burnt in effigy, 100 

Colvin, omnibuses, 146 

Commission to lay out streets, per- 
sonnel, 174; plan for Broadway, 
179; plan for drill ground, 238 

Common Council, see Bd. of Alder- 
men 

Commons, the (or Fields), location, 
21; proposed site of market, 39; 
gathering place, 84, 85; boun- 
daries, 85; drill ground, 88; map, 
89; place of execution, 87, 90, 95; 
powder-house, 90; almshouse, 
90, 95, 96; kilns, 90; Provost 
prison, 92; bridewell, 92; New 
Jail, 92; boat burned, 98; Stamp 
Act demonstrations, 98; cele- 
brations of repeal, 100, loi ; 
liberty-poles, 92, 100, loi, 105; 
various meetings in, 102; Nathan 
Rogers hung in effigy, 105; 
"great meeting" in, 106; meeting 
of Sons of Liberty, 107; Declara- 
tion of Independence read, lo.S; 
potter's field, 108 

Concord, news of battle of, 107 

Conkling,Roscoe, counsel for Senate 
committee, 232 

Conklin's, in Tarrytown, 344 

Connecticut, disputes boundary, 8; 
stirs up Indians, 423 

Connolly, Richard B., "Slippery 
Dick," 229 



Conover, Stephen, merchant, 164 

Constitution, the Federal, 24; rati- 
fication by the State, 426, 427 

Constitution Island, chain across 
Hudson, 397, 410; Warner prop- 
erty, 410; fortifications, 410; to 
become Government property, 
411 

Continental Village, history of, 400; 
small-pox inoculation at, 400 

Contoit, John H., garden, 193, 194; 
becomes N. Y. Garden, 194; 
view of, 195 

Contraband trade, Philipse's in- 
terest in, 346; general in the 
colonies, 359 

Convention, Albany, its plans, 466 

Cooley, Keese & Hill, auctioneers, 

75 

Cooper, James Fenimore, quoted, 
85, 348, 412, 419; forms "Bread 
and Cheese" Club, 153, 154; 
resident of Broadway, 202, 208; 
memorial service for, 207; foot- 
note, 364 

Cooper, Dr. Myles, first president 
of King's Coll., 147 

Cooper, Peter, at Union Sq. meet- 
ing, 226 

Cooper, Thomas, manager Park 
T., 166 

Corbett, John, tavern-keeper, 52 

Corean Embassy received by 
Pres't Arthur, 240 

Cornbury, Gov. Lord, dresses in 
women's garb, 16; Hyde Park 
named after him, 431 

Cornwallis, Lord, 47; goes through 
Spuyten Duyvil Creek, 341 ; en- 
trapped at Yorktown, Va., 354; 
crosses Hudson River, 361 ; 
surrender of, 426 

Corrie, Joseph, opens Mt. Vernon 
Garden, 194 

Cortlandtville, original site of 
Peekskill, 397; Washington's 
hdqrs. at, 398; ancient cemetery, 
398; entrance to Highlands, 407 

Cosine, Catherine, farm, 266 

Cosine, John, farm, 266 

Cosine, Rachel, farm, 266 

Coster, John G., house on Broad- 
way, 137; how Astor bought 
his property, 138 

Cotte, confectioner, 137 



484 



Index 



Counties, Province divided into, 
343, 412, 436; State redistricted, 

349. 425 

County court-house, cost, 112; 
authorized and built, 129; new 
site for, 130 

Courtenay, Lord, farm, 298; occu- 
pies Claremont, 300 

Cowboys, British irregulars, 364 

Cowman, John, farm, 222 

Cowpath, the (Pearl St.), 32 

Cox, garden, 194 

Cozzens, Frederick W., author 
Spfirrow-Grass Papers, resident 
of Yonkers, 368 

Crabtree, Lotta, backs Park T., 

235 

Cralo (or Crawlier), terminus of 
Albany Post-road, 344; owned 
by Da Laet, 461; conveyed to 
Johannes Van Rensselaer, 461 

Crane, Ichabod, character of Irv- 
ing's, 368; crosses Pocantico 
brook, 381; original of, 451, 452 

Croaker Papers, the, extract from, 

75. 76 

Crom Elboge (Crooked Elbow), 
Fishkill Creek, 415 

Croton dams, 388 

Croton Landing, 392 

Croton River, American posts on, 
363, 391; N. boundary of Philips- 
burgh Manor, 387; Indian name, 
387; ferry and bridge, 387; ferry, 
388; bridge, 391; American post 
routed, 391 

Croton water, 28, 37, 225; cele- 
bration, 37, 82, 115, 116; aque- 
duct, 381, 385 

Crown Market, see Markets 

Cruger, Mrs., attacked by Amer- 
icans, 283 

Crugers, village on Albany Post- 
road, 394 

"CuUen's Magnesium Shop," 76 

Cunningham, Capt. Wm., cruelty 
to American prisoners, 93, 105; 
whipped by Liberty Boys, 105; 
destroys liberty-pole, 105; hangs 
Nathan Hale, 121 

Custom-house, in the Whitehall, 14; 
in Government House, 26; present 
one on site of fort, 28, 30 

Cutting, Minnie Seligman, at 
Niblo's Garden, 205 



Daly, Augustin, manager, 214, 217, 

251 

Damen, Jan Jansen, farm, 10, 1 1 , 68 

Dana, Charles, journalist, 156 

"Dandy" Cox, 168 

Danckers visits Claverack, 450 

Daughters of American Revolution, 
liberty-pole tablet, 105; try for 
custody of Morris house, 321; 
form Washington Hdqrs. Asso- 
ciation, 323; tablet on Morris 
house, 323; Bronx Chapter places 
monument on Indian Field, 437 

Davenport brothers, spiritualists, 
at Hope Chapel, 218 

Davis, Abraham, erects Broadway 
Hotel, 186 

Davis, Charles, member "Bread 
and Cheese" Club, 154 

Dawson, Henry B., quoted in re 
Hamilton, footnote, 107 

Dawson, Robert, livery stable 
keeper, 76 

Dayton, Abram C, quoted, 201 

De Heere Graft, Dutch name for 
Broad St., 8 

De Kay, member "Bread and 
Cheese" club, 154 

De Kay, Jacob, receives grant from 
Stuyvesant, 305 

De Laet secures Greenbush, 461 ; 
Greenbush called De Laet's Burg, 
461 

De Lancey, Miss Charlotte, at- 
tacked by Americans, 283 

De Lancey, Etienne, Huguenot 
immigrant, 61; mansion, 61 

De Lancey, Lt.-Col. James, at- 
tempt to capture Col. Gist, 357 

De Lancey, Lt.-Gov. James, 62; 
describes the Highlands, 406 

De Lancey, Oliver, brigadier of 
loyalists, 283; mansion destroyed 
by Americans, 283; property 
confiscated, 284 

De Lancey, Madam Oliver, at- 
tacked by Americans, 283 

De Lancey, Peter, 62 

De Landt Poorte, gate at Wall St. 
and Broadway, 9 

De Peyster, Abraham, becomes 
mayor, 18; statue in Bowling 
Green, 18 



Index 



485 



De Peyster family, owners of 
property, 50 

De Peyster, James, farm, 298 

De Peyster, Nicholas, farm, 298 

De Vries, advice to Kieft, 383 

De Witt, trader, 2 

De Witt, Simeon, commissioner 
to lay out streets, 174 

Decatur, Capt. Stephen, banquet at 
City Hotel, 66; reception at 
City Hall, 115 

Declaration of Independence, news 
of, reaches city, 22; read to 
troops, 108; read at White 
Plains, 416 

Delacroix opens Vauxhall Garden 
on Bayard farm, 194 

Delmonico's, 28; uptown, 248 

Delonguemare, Nicholas, farm, 310 

Depew, Chauncey, delivers oration 
at Andre centenary, 375 

Dermer, Capt. Thomas, visits Man- 
hattan, 8 

Dewey, Admiral George, return to 
U. S., 244; arch, 246 

Dey, Teunis, owner of Damen 
farm, 68 

Dickens, Charles, banquet at City 
Hotel, 67; 139, 156 

Dickey, Robert, farm, 310 

Ditch ^in Broad St., 6, 8 

Ditson & Co., music store, 222 

Dix, John A., at Union Sq. meeting, 
226; Post, G. A. R., 314; grave 
in Trinity cemetery, 314 

Dix, Rev. Dr., describes departure 
of troops, 140-142 

Dobbs Ferry, 314; origin of name, 
361; ferry at, 361; attempt to 
change name, 361, 362; in Neu- 
tral Ground, 363 

Dockstader, "Lew," minstrels, 250 

Doctors' Riot, 148, 149 

Dolbeer, Stephen, tavern-keeper at 
the Blue Bell, 332 

Dongan, Gov. Thomas, 14; cuts 
road across the Fields, 85; 
divides city into wards, 133; 309; 
grants in Dutchess Co., 414; 
grant to Peter Schuyler, 423; 
grant to Kips, 432; friendly to 
Livingston, 437; patent to Liv- 
ingston, 439; confirms Claverack 
purchase, 448 ; patent to Schuyler 
in Kinderhook, 452; patent to 



town of Kinderhook, 454; con- 
firms patent for Rensselaerswyck, 
461 ; grants charter to Albany, "466 

Doughty, Elias, disposes of Van 
der Donck's land, 346 

Draft Riots, 126-128, 312 

Drake, Joseph Rodman, quoted, 
75. 76; 155 

Draper, Wm., ALD., resident of 
Irvington, 369 

Drew, John, at Daly's T., 251; 
at Empire T., 261 

Duane, James, consulted by Bd. 
of Aldermen, 39; mayor, in 
Doctors' Riot, 149 

Duer, John and William, members 
"Bread and Cheese" Club, 154 

Dugdale & Searle, ropewalk, 136 

Duke of York and Albany, see 
James II. 

Duke's County formed, 412 

"Duke's Plan," the, 9 

Durland's Riding Academy, 274 

Dutch, charter New Netherland 
Trading Co., 2; traders, 2; form 
West India Co., 3 — its objects, 
3 — destruction of archives, 4 — 
trouble with Indians, 4, 5, 422, 
434 ; settlers, 3 , 6 — at Harlem ,132; 
at Bloomingdale, 288; at Tarry- 
town, 383; above Highlands, 395; 
at Fishkill, 415; at Poughkeepsie 
425; at Claverack, 452; at 
Albany, 466; — grants, 5, 6, 10; 
build fort, 12; reconquer N. Y., 
16, 86, 88, 465; streets, 31; 
taverns, 42; holidays, 86 

Dutchess County, included Putnam 
Co., 401, 405; formation, 412; 
attached to Ulster Co., 412; 
boundaries, 414; Rhinebeck pre- 
cinct, 432 

Dwight, Theodore, quoted about 
Croton River, 387 

Dyckman, meadows, 328; family 
as patriots, 330 

Dyckman, Alderman, farm, 175 

Dyckman, Jacob, builds Farmers' 
Bridge, 339; erects tavern, 340; 
tavern passes to Hyatt, 340 

Dyckman, Jan, home farm, 328; 
homestead, 328, 330 

Dyckman, Matthew, farm, 242 

Dyckman, Lieut. Wm., killed at 
Eastchester, 330; monument, 330 



486 



Index 



Earle, Gen. Ferdinand P., last 

owner of Jumel property, 321 
Eastburn, James, & Co., booksellers, 

75. 76 
Eastchester, Lt. Dyckman killed at, 

330; British post, 364 
Eckford, Henry, 158 
Eden, Medecf, farm, 266 
Edward VII. (Prince of Wales), 

reception to, 82 
Eliot, Lt.-Gov. Andrew, "Minto" 

estate, 178 
Ellerslie, estate of Levi P. Morton, 

434 

EUsler, Fannie, caricatured by 
Mitchell, 200, 201 

Elm, or Wendell, Park, formerly 
Apthorpe estate, 286; drill ground 
for troops, 286; Orange picnics at, 
286 

Elting, patentee of Kipsburgh 
Manor, 432 

Embargo Act injures Hudson's 
trade, 457 

Emmerick, Lt.-Col., defeats Stock- 
bridge Indians, 353; attempt 
to capture Col. Gist, 357 

Emmet farm, 266 

English, first visitors, 8; settlement 
on Westchester Creek, 8; church, 
58 

English, Jane, manager, 214 

Epidemics, 41, 77, 78, 129 

Equitable Life Insurance Building, 

74 
Erie Canal, 115, 467 
Esopus Indians, wars with, 423, 

434; sell land to Kips, 432 
Esquatak, Indian name of Schodac, 

436 
Evertsen, Admiral, reconquers N. 

Y. for Dutch, 16 



Fair, annual, 15; cattle, 15 

Fall Kill, at Poughkeepsie, 424; 

power stream, 425 
Farmers' Bridge, view of, 329; 

constructed as a free bridge, 339 
Farms, 10, 11 ; W. I. Co.'s., 6, 59; 

the King's, 59, 135; the Queen's, 

136; Dominie's, 136, 445; church, 



136, 445; Bayard's, 175; Her- 
ring's, 175; Dyckman's, 175; 
Bleecker's, 175; Brevoort's, 179; 
Van Oblinus, 310; Gen. Mont- 
gomery's at Kingsbridge, 353; 
others, 222, 242, 266, 282, 283, 
298, 310 
Farragut, Admiral David G., 
statue, 246; resident of Hastings, 

369 

Fauconier, Peter, grant of Hyde 
Park, 431 

Faulkner, Benjamin, establishes 
brewery in Hudson, 457 

Fenton, Gov., reviews troops, 227 

Ferry, to Fort Lee, 305, 308, 310, 
333; Harlem, ss^, 339, 344 

Fever, yellow, 41, 77, 78 

Field, Cyrus W., erects Washing- 
ton Building, 45; lays Atlantic 
cable, 115; 161 

Fields, the, see the Commons. 

Fifth Ave., omnibuses, 146, 147 

Firemen, at work, 20; anecdote of, 
at Barnum's, 197 

Fire protection, buckets, 10; wells, 
34. 36 

Fires: Province House, 20; great 
fire of 1835, 37, 41; of 1776, 42, 
52, 68, 71; of Barnum's, 199, 211 

Fishkill, 407, 412; in Rombout 
grant, 414; origin of name, 415; 
legislature at, 416; military depot, 
417; State Constitution printed 
at, 419; historic houses, 419, 420 

Fisk, James, death of, 187 

Fitzroy road, 234 

Flagg, Major, monument, 330 

Flatiron Building, site of, 235; 
construction, 236 

Fleischmann, restaurant and bread 
line, 181 

Fletcher, Gov. Benj., privateering, 
43; Established Church, 58; fa- 
vors privateering, 346; unfriendh- 
to Livingston, 438 

Florence, William, at Star T., 211 

Floyd & Co., auctioneers, 272 

Floyd, Miss Elizabeth, attacked by 
Americans, 283 

Fordham Village, 340, 348, 349, 
British outpost, 363 

Forrest, Edwin, Astor PI. riot, 
196; at Broadway T., 213 

Forrest, Mrs. Edwin, 53 



Index 



487 



Fort Cralo, oldest habitation in 
U. S., 461; hdqrs. of Gen. Aber- 
crombie, 461; "Yankee Doodle" 
written in, 461; owned by D. A. 
R., 462; view of, 462 

Fort Washington, capture of, 94, 
341, 361; site of, 314, 324; Park, 
324, 326; defence by Magaw, 326; 
becomes Ft. Knyphausen, 326; 
tablet, 328 

Forts, at Castle I., 2; on Manhattan 
I., 2; W. I. Go's., 4; Ft. Am- 
sterdam, 12; — Van Twiller's, 12; 
site of, 14; centre of provincial 
life, 14, 16; Willem Hendrick, 16; 
Ft. James, 16; Kalm's descrip- 
tion, 20; lat. and long, of, 21; 
Sons of Liberty at, 22; council, 
24; dismantled, 24; British evac- 
uate, 24; demolition of, 25; relics 
from, 25; State sells to city, 27; 
sold by city, 27; "Steamship 
Row," 28; site for custom-house, 
28; — British: 148, 174,175,341; 
Knyphausen, 326; Prince Gharles 
and Gock Hill, 341; — American: 
Ft. Tryon, 295, 326, 328; Ft. 
Washington, 314, 324, 328; Ft. 
Lee, 321, 326; Ft. George on 
Laurel Hill, 328; Ft. Indepen- 
dence at Kingsbridge, 341, 350; 
at Kingsbridge, 350; Verplanck's 
Point, 394; Ft. Independence in 
the Highlands, 397; — War of 
1812, 124, 307;— Ft. Orange, later 
Albany, 463; — becomes Ft. Nas- 
sau, 465 

Fortescue, George, at Niblo's, 205 

"Forty Thieves," the, Bd. of 
Aldermen, 229 

Fourth of July, old time celebra- 
tion, 117 

Fox, Charles K., in Humpty 
Dumpty, 214 

Fox, George L., in Humpty 
Dumpty, 214 

Franchise for surface railway on 
Broadway, 228, 231 

Francis, Chas. S., & Co., booksellers, 

Francis, Dr., quoted, 64 

Franklin, Dr. Benj., quoted, 34; 
at Van Cortlandt manor-house, 
391; plan of colonial union, 466 

Fraunce's Tavern, 63, 64 



Fremont, Gen. John C, resident 
of Mt. Pleasant, 369 

French, Daniel, sculptor, 30 

French wars, palisades repaired, 9; 
Battery constructed, 18; delay 
settlement of Livingston's Manor, 
439; importance of Albany, dur- 
ing, 466 

Freshwater pond, see the Collect 

Frohman, Charles, manager, 260, 
268 

Fuller Co. erects Flatiron Build- 
ing, 236 

Fulton, Robert, grave of, 60; cen- 
tenary, 115, 301; experiments 
with steamboats, 444; museum 
at Claverack, 444 

Funerals: Hamilton, 82; Mont- 
gomer3^ 82, 435; Andre, 82; 
Monroe, 82; Taylor, 82; Clay, 
82; Webster, 82; Worth, 82; 
Lincoln, 82; Grant, 82; Clinton, 
82 

Fuyck, the, first Dutch name for 
Albany, 465 



G 



Gage, Gen., 22; hdqrs., 46 
Gaines, printer, 74 
Gallows Hill, origin of name, 399 
Garbage, removal of, 49; hogs, 40, 

41 
Gardens, character of, 193; Mon- 

tagnie's U. S., 193; Parise's, 193; 

Contoit's, 193, 195; Cox's, 194; 

Mt. Vernon, 194; Ranelagh, 194; 

Vauxhall, 194 — hired by Barnum, 

194; Columbia, 202; Niblo's, 202 
Gardequi, Don Diego de, occupies 

Kennedy house, 44 
Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, 183 
Garrisons, 408; fine estates, 409 
Gates, land and water, 9; Zealandia, 

9; discovery of foundations, 10 
Gates, Gen. Horatio, 433 
Gaynor, Mayor William, vetoes 

Stilwell bill, 131; 142 
Genet, Citizen, 176 
George III., statue of, 22 ; destroyed, 

22, 23 
George, Henry, 31 
Germans, parade, 82 ; settlers above 

the Highlands, 415; 432 
Gerraon, Effie, at Wallack's T., 210 



488 



Index 



Getty Square, in Yonkers, 355, 356 

Gettysburg, battle of, 128 

Ghent, treaty of, 124 

Gifford, Sanford, resident of Hud- 
son, 459 

Gilbert, Cass, architect of custom- 
house, 30 

Gilbert, John, at Wallack's T., 
210 

Gilbert, Mrs., at Daly's T., 251 

Gilsey estate. Princess T., anecdote 
of "vSam." T. Jack, 250 

Gimbel Brothers, department store, 
252, 255 

"Gingerbread" man, 167 

Gist, Colonel, courts Widow Bab- 
cock, 357; escapes capture, 357 

Goelet, Peter, mansion, 223 

Golden Hill, battle of, 103 

Goodrich, A.T., & Co., booksellers, 
76 

Gorham Co., silversmiths, 223 

Gottsberger, John, farm, 282 

Gould, Helen Miller, Lyndehurst 
estate in Tarrytown, 370, 371; 
her patriotism, 371; conserva- 
tories, 371 

Gould, Jay, historian of Delaware 
Co., 369; resident of Tarrytown, 

369- 371 

Goupil & Co., 181 

Government, first city, 10 

Government House, built, 25; occu- 
pied by Governors Clinton and 
Jay, 26; description of, 26; 
becomes custom-house, 26; sale 
and destruction of, 27; footnote, 

55 
Governor's house at Albany, 465 
"Governors' Room" in City Hall, 

114 
Gramercy pond, 237 
Grant, Mayor Hugh J., 232; 

appoints Rapid Transit Com- 
mission, 279 
Grant, Gen. U. S., funeral, 82; 

lies in state, 117; tomb, 276, 

278, 295, 300, 301, 320 
Grasse, Comte de, arrives off 

Chesapeake Bay, 354 
Great Britain acquires New Neth- 

erland, 16 
"Great White Way," 86, 256, 257, 

262 
Greeley, Horace, 156 



Greenburgh township, 360; Dobbs 
Ferry, 362 

Greenbush, Indian Castle at, 436; 
terminus of post-road, 459; now 
called Rensselaer, 461; Ft. Cralo, 
461; military dep6t during War 
of 18 1 2, 462; ferry to Albany, 
465; bridge to Albany, 465 

Greene, Lt.-Col., monument to, 330 

Greene, Maj.-Gen. Nathanael, pre- 
sides at Andre court-martial, 378 

Greenwich Village, during fever 
epidemics, 78; removal of old 
Newgate from, 386 

Grenville, Lord, proposes Stamp 
Act, 97; effigy burned, 100 

Greystone, estate at Yonkers, 360 

Griscom, Dr. John, footnote, 96 

Guerin's restaurant, 186 

Guernsey cattle at EUerslie, 434 



H 



Hale, Capt. Nathan, statue, 118; 
sketch of his life, 119-121; date 
of journey, 306 

Hall, Asa, establishes stage to 
Greenwich, 145 

Hall of Records (old), site, 90; 
view, 93 

Hall of Records (new), 95 

Halleck, Fitz-Greene, quoted, foot- 
note, 56, 75, 76, 96, 155, 168, 
199; 154, 157; lines on death of 
Lieut. Allen, 459 

Hamblin, "Tom," manager, 213 

Hamilton, Alexander, procession 
in honor of, 24, 25; lives on 
Broadway, 52; grave of, 60 
funeral, 82; at the Fields, 106 
121; makes Randall's will, 178 
"Grange," 316, 317; duel with 
Burr, 316, 321, 451; thirteen 
trees, 316; meets Washington, 
319; supports adoption of Fed- 
eral Constitution, 427; guest at 
Van Schaack house, 454 

Hamilton, Elizabeth, farm, 310; 
"dear Betsy, " 316 

IlamiUon, Federal Ship, in parade, 

25. 
Hamilton, James, farm, 283 
Hammerstein, Oscar, builds Olym- 

pia, 268 
Hammond, Abijah, 176 



Index 



489 



' Hampden Hall, hdqrs. Sons of 
Liberty, 104; site, 196 
Hardenbrook, John, farm, 282 
Hardy, Gov. Sir Charles, banquet 

to, 62 
Harlem, settlement of, 132; boun- 
daries, 308; grants to, 309; 
division of common lands, 309; 
grant to Kierscn, 317; wading 
place, 328; mere, 333; ferry, 

338, 339. 344 

Harlem Heights, battle of, 305- 
307; moral effect of battle, 307 

Harlem Lane, part of Boston road, 
297 

Harlem River, ferry, 338, 339, 344; 
steamboats, 341 

Harper, Mayor, stops aldermanic 
tea-parties, 117; clears up public 
parks, 238 

Harper, William, opposes adoption 
of Federal Constitution, 426 

Harrigan & Hart, at Wood's 
Theatre Comique, 216; open their 
own theatre, 218 

Harriman, Mrs. E. H., gift of park 
to State, 386 

Harrison, Pres't Wm. Henry, fu- 
neral, 82 

Harsen farms, 266, 274, 288 

Harsenville, Bloomingdale, 288 

Hart, Eli,& Co., in bread riots, 125, 
126 

Hastings, 360; CornwalHs crosses 
river at, 361; fight in, 361; home 
of Admiral Farragut, 369 

Haswell, Charles H., quoted, 117, 
188 

Havemeyer mansion, 33, 265; farm, 
266 

Haverly, J. H., minstrels, 250 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 139 

Hayes, Jacob, farm, 266 

Hayward, William, farm, 298 

Headless Horseman, legend of, 
361, 368, 381 

Hearts of Oak, Revolutionary 
militia, 77 

Heath, Maj.-Gen. William, hdqrs. 
at Blue Bell tavern, 332; men- 
tions Hyatt's tavern, 340; at- 
tempts to recover Ft. Inde- 
pendence, 341, 353; commands 
in the Highlands, 397; visited 
by De Chastellux, 418 



Heathcote, Col. Caleb, grant at 
Hyde Park, 431 

Ileere Straat, becomes Broadway, 
31 ; Peek located on, 395 

Heerewegh, becomes Boston post- 
road, 85 

Heermance Place built by Kip, 432 

Hegeman farm, 266 

Heidelberg Building, 259 

Hendricks, Harmon, buys Van- 
denheuvel property, 294 

Henriques farm, 298 

Herald, N. Y., at Ann St., 199; at 
36th St., 253, 254 

Herbert, Henry W. (Frank For- 
rester), suicide of, 189 

Herkimer, Gen., descended from 
Palatines, 440 

Hermann, magician, at Star T., 211 

Heron, Matilda, at Laura Keene's 
Varieties T., 213 

Herring estate, 175 

Hessians, at Ft. Washington, 326; 
at Trenton, 332; at Marble Hill, 
342; stupidity of, 357; encounter 
with, at Hastings, 361 

Highland Turnpike Co., fills in 
marsh at Kingsbridge, 345; se- 
cures Albany Post-road, 360; 
new road through Highlands, 
399, 407; 445; opens road to 
Hudson, 458 

Highlands, the, 363, 395; military 
importance of, 396; fortifica- 
tions in, 397; various commanders 
of> 397; post-road through, 399; 
milestones in, 399; Morris's ode 
to, 401 ; autumnal beauties of, 
401; description of, by Gov. 
Hunter, 405; descriptions by 
Colden and De Lancey, 406; 
minerals in, 407; at Cold Spring, 
412; called Matteawan by In- 
dians, 415; visit of De Chastellux, 
418 

Hill, Harry, dance-hall, 213 

Hispanic Society of America, 316 

Historical Society, New York, 24; 
formed, 116 

Hoffman, Charles Fenno, editor, 

75. 156 

Hog (or Boar) Hill, site of American 
encampment, 360 

Hogg, Thomas, florist, 158; gar- 
dens, 159 



490 



Index 



Ilog.i as street scavengers, 41 

Holidays, observance of, 86 

Holland E. M., at Wallack's T., 
210 

Holland, George, at Olympic T., 
200; appears in minstrels, 216 

Holland, John J., conducts pano- 
rama, 166 

Holland Society, tablet at No. i 
Broadway, 2; tablet at City 
Hotel site, 67 

Hollow Way, the, location, 305; 
315; Matje David's Vly, 333 

Hollywood Inn, how established, 
355; view, 356 _ 

Holt, John, printer, at Pough- 
keepsie during Revolution, 426 

Hone, Philip, at City Hotel, 66; 
view of house, 99; pavement 
on Broadway, 135; location of 
house, 137; 154; quoted, 177; 
quoted in regard to Burr-Jumel 
wedding, 319; visit to Tarry- 
town, 371; visit to Hyde Park, 
430 

Hopper, Andrew, occupies Hamp- 
den Hall, 196, 268; farm, 266, 
267, 272; view of house, 267; 
married at Bloomingdale, 290 

Horn, John, owner of site of Madi- 
son Sq., 238, 242 

Hosack, Dr., at Hyde Park, 430 

Hospital, New York, site, 134; 
founded and built, 148; reopened, 
148; "Doctors' Riot" at, 148, 149; 
beauty of grounds, 150; lunatic 
asylum opened, 150; removal of, 
150; new site, 150; view of, 151; 
Bloomingdale Asylum, 298, 302 

Hospital, St. Luke's, location, 302 

Hotels: Adelphi, 52; American, 
formerly Philip Hone's house, 
137; Athenaeum, 166; Barnum's 
(Howard house), 53; Broadway, 
Whig lidqrs., 186 — drill-room of 
2dCo., Seventh Regt.,186; Bunker 
Mansion, formerly A-IcComb 
house, 51; Carlton, 166, 187; 
City, see City Hotel; Fifth Ave., 
patronized by presidents, 240 — • 
view, 241; Florence's, 167, 187; 
Irving, 160; La Farge, destroyed 
by fire, 207 — becomes Grand 
Central Hotel, 207; Metropolitan, 
view, 203 — erected, 204; McAlpin, 



now in course of erection, 254; 
National, 74, 75; New York, 
popular with Southerners, 186 — 
connected with schemes of Con- 
federacy, 186; 187; N. Y. Athe- 
na?um, 72; Raleigh, recently de- 
molished, 187; Sinclair, recently 
demolished, 187; Spingler House, 
222; Stevens House, 48 — suicide 
of "Frank Forrester" in, 189; 
Sturtevant, resort of army and 
navy officers, 248; St. Germain, 
on site of Flatiron Building, 236; 
St. Nicholas, 187; Tremont, 176; 
Tremont Temperance, 53, 72; 
Washington, in Kennedy man- 
sion, 44; Washington Hall, 67 — 
construction, 1 53 — Lawrence ban- 
quet at, 153 — view of, 153 — ■ 
"Bread and Cheese" Club formed 
at, 153 — bought by A. T. Stew- 
art, 160 
Houston, "Sam," at Astor House, 

139 
Howard, Keeler & Scofield, tailors, 

53 

Howe, Sir William, hdqrs., 44; 
at Apthorpe house, 288; battle 
of Harlem Heights, 307 

Howells, Wm. Dean, at Pfaff's, 189 

Hudson, 447; becomes county-seat, 
450; location, 456; history of, 
454-458; ale, 457 

Hudson, Henry, explores river, i ; 
bi-centenary, 82, 116; tri-cen- 
tenary, 115, 300; anchors off 
Croton R., 388; reaches Peeks- 
kill Bay, 395; explorations near 
Albany, 462 

Huguenot settlers above High- 
lands, 415 

Hull, tavern-keeper, 64 

Hull, Capt. Isaac, banquet at 
City Hotel, 66; reception at 
City Hall, 115 

Hull, Capt. William, writes of 
Hale's execution, 121 

Hunter, Dr. Thomas, president of 
Normal School, 178 

Hunter, Gov., 309; reports on 
the Highlands, 405; reports on 
Palatines on Livingston Manor, 

439 
Huntington, Archer M., his gen- 
erosity, 316 



Index 



491 



Hutchins, John, tavern-keeper, 45 
Hyde Park, 430; in "Nine Part- 
ners' Grant," 431; origin of 
name, 431 
Hydrographic Office, U. S., time 
light, 70, 71; continues publica- 
tion of Blimfs Coast Pilot, 370 



I 



Ide, Teunis, grant from Stuyvesant, 
298 

Indian Field, scene of Indian defeat, 
353; monument on, 436 

Indians, wars with the Dutch, 4, 
383, 422, 423; Dutch treaty 
with, 15, 463; confer with Gov. 
Clinton, 19, 20; villages, 343, 
372; defeat of Stockbridge tribe, 
353; fur trade with, 359; Kitch- 
iwonks on Croton R., 387; 
punitive expedition against Iro- 
quois, 390; Sackhoes, later Peeks- 
kill, 395; Wicopees in High- 
lands, 412; Wappingers, 422; 
Esopus tribe, 424; Sepiscoots, 
433; battle-field at Upper Red 
Hook, 433, 437; Iroquois, 433; 
Esopus war with Dutch, 434; 
2vIohican defeat and wanderings, 
436, 437; Narragansetts, 437; 
attack at Kinderhook, 454; trade 
with, 465 

Innes, J. H., quoted concerning 
Whitehall, 14 

Invalids in Continental army, 418 

Inwood, 295; station, 324; Ft. 
Tryon at, 328 

Irving, Henry, at Star T., 211; 
at Knickerbocker T., 260 

Irving, John Treat, brother of 
Washington, 57 

Irving, Washington, anecdote of, 
50, 51; residence on Broadway, 
53; footnote, 57; banquet to, 
66; toastmaster, 67; engaged to 
Miss Hoflfman, 75; Knickerbock- 
er's History of New York quoted, 
79, 80, 82; ref., 139, 154, 207, 
430; story of Spuyten Duy- 
vil Creek, 336, 337; home at 
Sunnyside, 364, 367; letter of, 
364, 366; portrait, 365; descrip- 
tion of Sunnyside, 366; gives 
origin of name Tarrytown, 372; 



tablet on Christ Church, 372; 
grave in Sleepy Hollow Ceme- 
tery, 384; Lowell's lines on, 384; 
story of Anthony's Nose moun- 
tain, 404; visitor at Lindenwald, 
451, 452; guest at Van Schaack 
house, 454 
Irving, William, footnote, 57 
Irvington, origin of name, 364 
Irwin Sisters at Tony Pastor's, 216 



J 



Jack, "Sam" T., anecdote of, 250 

Jackson, Andrew, 139; at New 
Orleans, 434 

Jacques, Moses, chairman of meet- 
ing, panic of 1837, 125 

Jaehne, Alderman, punished for 
bribery, Broadway railroad, 232 

Jail, New, see Provost prison 

James II., lord-proprietor, 16; ab- 
dication, 17; farm, 135; second 
title given to Albany, 465 

Jameson, Lt.-CoL, receives Andre 
as a prisoner, 377; his bad judg- 
ment, 377; recalls Andre, 400 

Jans, Annetje, inherits farm, 136; 
wife of Roelof Jansen, 445 

Jansen, Matthys, grant from Kieft, 
328; part of grant given to Ver- 
veelen, 338; heirs attempt to 
recover land, 338 

Jansen, Roelof, grant of land to, 5; 
widow remarries, 136; kill named 
after, 414, 438; sketch of career, 

445 

Japanese embassy, reception to, 82 

Jarrett & Palmer produce The 
Black Crook at Niblo's, 204 

Jauncey, Miss, marries Col. Thorne, 
286 

Jay family residents of Broadway, 
48 

Jay, Gov. John, occupies Govern- 
ment House, 26; burnt in effigy, 
26; gives land for Broadway, 134; 
injured in Doctors' Riot, 149; 
upholds adoption of Federal 
Constitution, 427; guest at Van 
Schaack house, 454 

Jay, Peter, leases Bowling Green, 

19 

Jefferson, Joseph, at Laura Keene's 
Varieties T., 213 



492 



Index 



Jeffrey's Point, site of Ft. Wash- 
ington, 315, 324 
Jenkins, Thomas, leader of the 

founders of Hudson, 24 
Jenner, Dr. William, experiments 

with vaccination, 400 
Jennings, Chester, of the City 

Hotel, 67, 76 
Johnson, Gen., describes departure 

of British from Provost prison, 94 
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, simplified 

spelling, 412 
Joinville, Prince de, banquet to, 139 
Jones, omnibuses, 146 
Jones, Capt. Jacob, banquet at 

City Hotel, 66; reception at 

City Hall, 115 
Jones, Judge, describes attack on 

De Lancey mansion, 283 
Jones, Samuel, legal opinion asked 

by the Corporation, 39 
Juet commands the Half-Moon, i 
Jumel, Madam, entertains, 319; 

marries Burr, 319; separates from 

Burr, 321; her later life, 321 
Jumel, Stephen, farms, 283, 310; 

acquires Morris property, 319; 

entertains, 319; death, 319 
Juries, appeal from, 64 
Juvenile Asylum, at Madison Sq., 

238; on Washington Heights, 314 



K 



Kalck Hook, fortifications on, 148 
Kalm, Professor, description of the 

fort, 20 
Keene, Laura, manager, 207, 213 
Kelly & Leon, minstrels, 193 
Kemble, Gouverneur, associate of 
Irving, 411; establishes Cold 
Spring Foundry, 411 
Kennedy, Capt. Archibald, col- 
lector of port, 43-45; refuses to 
aid Colden, 98 
Kennedy house, at No. i Broadway, 
44; hdqrs. of American and 
British generals, 44; Andre's 
connection with, 44; later occu- 
pants, 44, 45; site of Washing- 
ton Building, 45 
Kent, Chancellor, guest at Van 

Schaack house, 454 
Kidd, Capt. William, pirate, 346; 
recommended by Livingston, 438 



Kieft, Gov. William, Indian wars, 
4, 383, 422, 423; builds fort and 
church, 12, 13; orders fair, 15; 
24; grant to Pieters, 309; grants 
to Jansen and Aertsen, 32S 

Kiersen, Hendrick, original owner 
of Morris property, 317 

Kiersted, Lucas, house on Broad- 
way, 33 

Kimberly, G., farm, 282 

Kind, Arthur, farm, 242 

Kindcrhook, principal street, 445; 
origin of name, 450; first grants 
in, 452; Indians attack, 454 

Kinderhook Creek, 445 

King, Rufus, member "Bread and 
Cheese" Club, 154; buys Clark- 
son property, 166 

King's Arms Tavern, 45; Gage's 
hdqrs., 46; becomes Atlantic 
Garden, 46; quarters of Arnold, 46 

Kingsbridge, 258, 315; Indian name 
of, 345; township formed, 350; 
becomes part of N. Y. City, 350; 
sewer in, 350; British post, 363 

Kingsbridge road, act of Provincial 
Assembly forming, 297, 298; 
merges with Broadway, 308, 323; 
maintenance of, 310; ref., 321, 
328 

King's College, opening of, 63; 
meeting of governors of, 64; 
Hamilton at, 106; 137; founding 
of, 147; used as barracks, 147; 
becomes Columbia Coll., 147 

King's Ferry, allied armies cross, 
355; location of, 355, 394; Andre 
and Smith cross, 394 

Kingsland, Ambrose C, acquires 
Philipse Castle, 381 

Kip, Hendrick, grant of Rhinebeck, 
432; builds Heermance Place, 432 

Kip, Jacobus, grant in Dutchess 
Co., 414; grant of Rhinebeck, 432 

Kipp & Brown, stage owners, 145 

Kitchiwonks, Indian tribe on Cro- 
ton R., 387; village of Sackhoes, 
later Peekskill, 395 

Knickerbocker authors, sketches 
of, 154-158 

Knickerbocker, Diedrich, pseudo- 
nym of Irving, 79; symbol of 
New York City, 157 

Knickerbocker families, origin of, 
243 



Index 



493 



Knowlton, Lt.-Col., commands 

Rangers, 120; tablet to, 304, 305; 

in battle of Harlem Heights, 306 
Knox, Gen. Henry, at Van Cort- 

landt mansion, 353; at Dobbs 

Ferry, 363 
Knyphausen, Lt.-Gen., hdqrs. at 

IVlorris house, 318, 319; Ft. 

Washington renamed after, 326 
Kocks, Pieter (and Annetje), keep 

tavern at No. I Broadway, 42 
Kossuth, Louis, reception to, 82 
Krigier, Martin, tavern-keeper, 42; 

site of tavern, 45; in war with 

Esopus Indians, 434 



Labadists describe Claverack, 450 
Lafaj'ctte, Marquis de, reception 

to, 82, 115; statue at Union Sq., 

224; Guards, 228; anecdote of, 

236; traps Cornwallis, 354; at 

Van Cortlandt manor-house, 391 ; 

visits Poughkeepsie, 428; visits 

Hudson, 458 
Lamb, Col. John, buys site for 

liberty-pole, 92, 102 
Landings, river, 430 
Landon, Melville D. (Eli Perkins), 

resident of Yonkers, 368 
Langdon, Walter, house on Broad- 
way, 176 
Langstaff, Dr. William, friend of 

Halleck and Drake, 158 
Langtry, Mrs. Lily, first American 

appearance, 235 
Lansing, John, opposes adoption 

of Federal Constitution, 426 
Laurel Hill, site of Ft. George, 328 
Lauzun, Due de, at Van Cortlandt 

manor-house, 392 
Lawrence, Capt. James, grave of, 

60; commands Chesapeake in 

her fight with the Shannon, 60; 

reception at City Hall, 115 
Lawrence, John, buys Clarkson 

property, 166; farm, 310 
Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum, 

site of P. E. cathedral, 302 
Leavitt, Jonathan, bookseller, 74 
Leavitt, Trow & Co., booksellers, 75 
Lee, Gen. Charles, hdqrs., 44, 108; 

arrives in N. Y. with American 

troops, 108 



Lee, "Light Horse Harry," in 
plot to capture Arnold, 46 

Leisler, Jacob, becomes governor, 
17; trial of, 17; execution, 18, 90; 
remains disinterred, 18; Parlia- 
ment removes attainder against, 
18; Livingston his enemy, 437 

Leislerians, political party, 18 

Leitch, Major, killed in battle of 
Harlem Heights, 306 

Lent's Circus on Broadway, 208 

Lewis, Dr. Dio, resident of Yonkers, 
368 

Lewis, James, at Daly's T., 251 

Lexington, news of battle reaches 
city, 107 

Liberty-pole, site of, 92; first one 
erected, loi; others erected, loi, 
102; attacks on, 104, 105; final 
destruction by Cunningham, 105; 
tablet to commemorate, 105 

Library, Society, sketch of, 164 

Lighting, street, 37, 38 

"Lime-kiln" man, 167 

Lincoln, Pres't Abraham, funeral, 
82; lies in state, 117; 139; 
statue in Union Sq., 224 

Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, captures 
British outpost, 353 

Lind, Jennie, 139, 206 

Linden wald, 449; built by Judge 
Van Ness, 450; Irving visits, 451, 
452; home of Van Buren, 452 

Lispenard, Leonard, meadows, 171, 
172, 234, 332 

Livingston, Brockholst, farm, 283; 
becomes owner of Apthorpe es- 
tate, 286 

Livingston, John, Tory, 442 

Livingston, Philip, second manor- 
lord, 441 ; his five sons, 442 

Livingston, Philip, signer of the 
Dec. of Independence, 442 

Livingston, Philip Van Brugh, 
changes name of Dobbs Ferry, 
361; house, hdqrs. of Washing- 
ton, 362, 363; 442 

Livingston, Robert, first in N. Y., 
437; sketch of his life, 437-441; 
his character, 441; his will, 

Livingston, Robert, second, in- 
herits Clermont, 441, 442; drives 
off Indians at Kinderhook, 
454 



494 



Index 



Livingston, Robert R., judge of 
supreme court, 443; letter from 
his wife, 444, 445 

Livingston, Chancellor Robert R., 
Jr., leases Bowling Green, 24; 
upholds adoption of Federal 
Constitution, 427; 433; his pub- 
lic services, 443; his house burnt 
by British, 444; experiments with 
steam navigation, 444; his part- 
nership with Fulton, 444; intro- 
duces merino sheep, 444 

Livingston, Walter, his daughter 
marries Fulton, 444 

Livingston, William, war governor 
of N. J. during Revolution, 442 

Livingston's Landing, Dobbs Ferry, 

361, 363 

Livingston Manor, 414; estates on 
post-road, 434; patent for, 439, 
440; manor-house erected, 439; 
Palatine settlement, 439; survey 
and map made, 440 

Livingston township, 439 

Lockyer, Capt., brings tea to N. Y., 
106 

Loew bridge at Fulton St., 78, 79 

Long Island, battle of, 24 

Long Island Sound, explorations 
of, 2 

Loockermans, Govert, farm on 
Heere Si mat, 10 

Lorillard, Jacob, farm, 283 

Lorillard, Pierre, owner of Olympic 
T. and Tattersall's, 200 

Loring, Commissary, cruelty to 
American prisoners, 93 

Lossing, Benson J., resident of 
Poughkeepsie, 428; his historical 
works, 428, 429 

Lots, value of, 10; vacant, 31; 
extend to Hudson R., 42; price 
of No. II Broadway, 50; cor. 
Wall St. and Broadway, 53; 
above Trinity, 68 

Lottery, to build Sandy Hook 
lighthouse, 63; to build New 
Jail, 92; in City Hall Park, 124; 
for King's Coll., 147 

Louden, Lord, opens road through 
the Highlands, 407 

Louden, Samuel, prints State Con- 
stitution at Fishkill, 419 

Louis XIV. desolates the Palatin- 
ate, 61 



Louis Philippe teaches school in 

Somerindyke house, 295 
Love Lane, 234 
Lovejoy's restaurant, 186 
Lovelace, Gov., establishes post 

to Boston, 21; acquires "Dom- 
inie's bouwerie, " 136; establishes 

Harlem ferry, 338 
Lowell, James Russell, 224; lines 

on Irving, 384 
Lower party, term applied to 

British in Neutral Ground, 364; 

Andre's reference to, 376 
Loyalists, 62 
Ludlow, Daniel, offers to lease 

Bowling Green, 24 
Ludlow, Gabriel V., house on 

Broadway above Canal St., 176 
Ludlow, Robert Fulton, maintains 

Fulton museum at Claverack, 

443. 444 

Luycas, Evert, grant in Kinder- 
hook, 452 

Lydig, Philip, house on site of 
Astor House, 137 

Lyndehurst, Gould estate at Tarry- 
town, 370 

M 

McComb mansion occupied by 
Pres't Washington, 50 

McCullough, John, at Star T., 210 

McDonald, John B., contractor 
for subway, 280 

McDougal, Gen. Alexander, im- 
prisoned for sedition, 104; 107; 
has Highland command, 397 

McGill, Sarah, farm, 283 

McGowan's Pass, fortifications at, 
124; British reinforcements called 
from, 307 

McKenzie, Alexander Slidell, resi- 
dent of Mt. Pleasant, 369 

McKesson, John, resident on Broad- 
way, 162 

McVickers, John, farm, 283 

Mabie, Hamilton W., resident of 
N. Tarrj'town, 369 

Macmonnies, Frederick, sculptor 
of Hale statue, 119 

Macomb, Gen. Alexander, home 
at Kingsbridge, 347; house vis- 
ited by Poe, 348; house be- 
comes Godwin house, 34S; es- 
tablishes mills and dams, 348 



Index 



495 



Macomb St., causeway, 345, 348 
Macready, 139; riot, 196; at Broad- 
way T., 213 
Madison Cottage, 238, 240 
Madison Sq. park, 236, 237; pot- 
ter's field, 238; receives name, 
238; occupied by squatters, 238 
Magaw, Gen. Robert, prisoner, 91; 
defence of Ft. Washington, 326 
Maison Dorce, restaurant, 222 
Mall, the, promenade on Broadway, 

61, 63 
Manhattan College, 308 
Manhattan Co., 10; formed, 34 
Manhattan Gaslight Co. lights 

streets, 37 
Manhattan Indians, 343 
Manhattan Island, fort on, 2; 
first habitations of whites, 2; 
Minuits' colony, 3; Argall's visit 
to, 8; Dermer's visit to, 8; 
passage from, to mainland, 337- 
339; exempted from patroonships, 

459 
Manhattan Life Building, weather 

bureau on, 74 
Manhattanville, site of, 308; 315 
Mann, Alvah, manager Broadway 

T., 213 
Mann, Miss Margaret, boarding- 
house, 52 
Manning, Capt. John, surrenders 

fort to Dutch, 86; court-mar- 

tialled, 88 
Maps, N. Y. in 1642, 5; "Duke's 

plan," 9; first, of city, 10; Mont- 

gomerie, 34; of the Commons, 89 
Marble Hill, British forts on, 341 
Marble houses, 177; Scudder's 

and City Hall, 196 
Marckveldt 'i, Dutch name for 

Bowling Green, 14; steegie, 14 
Marketfield, 14 
Markets, meat, 15, 38; erection of, 

38; Oswego, 38-40; Crown, 40; 

Broadway, 40 
Marquand, Henry G., Union League 

Club at his house, 229 
Marschalk surveys Broadway, 134 
Marshall, Ethelbert A., manager 

Broadway T., 213 
Martelaer's (or Martyr's) reach 

and island. Constitution I., 410 
Marx, Henry, called "Dandy," 

168, 169; farm, 298 



Masonic Hall, erection, 162; view 
of, 163; becomes Gothic Hall, 164 

Masons, Scottish Rite, acquire 
Madison Ave. Pres. C, 291 

Massachusetts, claims land to Hud- 
son R., 422; disputes with Living- 
ston tenants, 441 

Matje David's Vly, the Hollow 
Way, 333 

Matteawan, Indian name of High- 
lands, 415 

May, Dutch trader, 2 

Megapolensis, Dominie, house on 
the Heere Straat, 42 

"Merritt's Folly," in Tarrytown, 

371. 

Merwin, Jesse, original of Ichabod 
Crane, 451 

Mestayer, Harry, at Niblo's, 205 

Metropolitan Life Building, time 
light on, 71 

Miantonomah, Indian chief, 437 

Middle Road, see Broadway 

Milborne, Jacob, son-in-law of 
Leisler, 17; trial and execution, 
17, 18; body exhumed and re- 
buried, 18; Parliament removes 
attainder, 18; execution, 90; 
upbraids Livingston from scaf- 
fold, 438 

Milderberger, Christian, farm, 222 

Milestones, at Hawthorne St., 330; 
through the Highlands, 399, 
footnote, 399 

Minstrels, 193; Congo and Negro, 
212; Buckley's, 214; San Fran- 
cisco, 214, 250; Wood's, 216; 
Wood & Christy's, 216; Kelly 
& Leon's, 218; Haverly's, 250; 
Dockstader's, 250 

"Minto" estate, sketch of, 178, 
179 

Minuits, Peter, colony, 3 

IVIitchell, William, comedian, anec- 
dote of, 200, 201 

Modjeska, Madam, at Star T., 
210 

Mohawk Indians, battle with Mo- 
hicans, 433, 436; war with Mo- 
hicans, 450; near Albany, 466 

Mohican Indians, villages, 343; 
location and removals, 436, 437; 
become Stockbridge Indians, 437; 
war with Mohawks, 450 

Alonroe, Pres't James, funeral, 82 



496 



Index 



Montagnie tavern, hdqrs., Sons 
of Liberty, 102, 104, 193; United 
States Garden, 193 

Montgomery, Janet Livingston, 72; 
life at Montgomery Place, 434; 
passage of the General's body, 435 

Montgomery, Gen. Richard, sketch 
of, 72; funeral, 82; farm at Kings- 
bridge, 353; Life of, 434; removal 
of body to New York, 435; guest 
at Van Schaack house, 454 

Montressor, Capt., informs Amer- 
icans of Hale's execution, 120 

Montrose Village, 394 

Monuments: prison martyrs, 61; 
Worth, 244-246, 459; Dewey 
arch, 244; Audubon, 314; Ft. 
Washington, 328; at Yorktown, 
Westchester Co., 330; on Indian 
Field, 354, 437; at Dobbs Ferry, 
362, 363; Andre captors, 373, 
374; Seth Pomeroy, 396, 398; 
Paulding, 398; Van Buren, 451 

Moore farm, 310 

Moore, Gov. Sir Henry, 98; fa- 
vorable to provincials, 100 

Morgan, William, Freemason, mys- 
tery of, 162 

Morningside Heights, 305; old 
fortifications, 307 

Morris, George P., 155; ode to the 
Highlands, 401 ; estate at Under- 
cliff, 411 

Morris, Gouverneur, street com- 
missioner, 174; relations with 
Louis Philippe, 295 

Morris, Col. Roger, companion of 
Washington, 317; marries Mary 
Philipse, 318; builds mansion 
on Harlem R., 318; estates 
confiscated, 318; acquires part 
of Highlands, 405 

Morris, Roger (or Jumel), house, 
Washington hdqrs., 306; sketch 
of, 317; picture, 318; Knyphau- 
sen's hdqrs., 318; occupied by 
the Jumels, 319, 321; becomes 
"Earlcliflf," 321; becomes public 
museum, 321 

Morrisania, new Boston road 
through, 350; British post, 364 

Morse, S. F. B., estate at Pough- 
keepsie, 423 

Morton, Levi P., Ellerslie estate, 
434 



Mosholu, Indian name of Tibbett's 
brook, 345; village of, 353 

Mott, Dr. Henry, house above 
Canal St., 176 

Mott, Lucretia, abolitionist, 183 

Mt. Pleasant township, homes of 
literary people, 369 

Mumford, Gordon S., farm, 298 

Municipal Building, new, on Cen- 
tre St., 114 

Munn, Stephen B., speculative 
builder, 176 

Munro, Harry, rector at St. John's, 
Yonkers, 357 

Murray, Gen., burned in efiigy, 100 

Murray, Hannah, farm, 310 

Murray, John, farm, 62 

Muscoota, Indian name of Spuyten 
Duyvil Creek, 334 



N 



Nagel, Jan, associated with Dyck- 
man, 330 

Nagel, Jan, 2d, builds Century 
House, 341 

Nantes, Edict of, revocation of, 62 

Napoleon, decrees of, injure Hud- 
son's trade, 457 

Narragansett Indians, 437 

Naval Academy, Perry's battle- 
flag at, footnote, 60 

Naval heroes, arch to, 244 

Navigation laws, violation of, 359 

Negro burial-ground, 108; bodies 
exhumed from, for hospital, 148; 
barracks on site of, 152 

Negro plot, 20, 21 

Nelsonville, 407 

Nepperhaem, Indian name of \'an 
der Donck's grant, 346 

Nepperhan River, dams on, 359 

Nesbit, experiments with steam 
navigation, 444 

Neutral Ground, location, 363, 364; 
atrocities perpetrated in, 364 

New Amsterdam, 8, 12; becomes 
New York, 16 

New England path, 452 

Newman, Mark H., & Co., book- 
sellers, 75 

New Netherland, 8; surrendered by 
Dutch, 16; becomes N. Y., 16 

New Orange, Dutch name of N. Y. 
City, 16 



Index 



497 



New Rochelle, British post, 364 

New Year's Eve celebration, 269 

New York City, map, 5; southwest 
view of, 13; receives name, 16; 
retaken by Dutch, 16; called 
New Orange, 16; British evac- 
uate, 24, 363; ceases to be capital, 
25, 26; becomes owner of fort, 
27; sells property, 27; British 
capture of, 133; College, 317; 
formation of greater city, 350; 
the Swamp, 431; capital of 
State and nation, 467 

New York Commercial Building 
on site of New York Hotel, 186 

New York State, proclaimed, 416; 
Constitution adopted, 419; rati- 
fies Articles of Confederation, 
425; ratifies Federal Constitu- 
tion, 427; becomes first in the 
Union, 467 

Niblo, William, opens garden, 67; 
76; manager, 202 

Nicholson, Gov., deposed by citi- 
zens, 17 

Nicolls, Col. Richard, treaty with 
Dutch, 10; changes name of 
province, etc., 16; confirms Har- 
lem grants, 309; grant to Abra- 
ham Staats, 450; grants in 
Kinderhook, 452, 456 

"Nine Partners' Grant," in Hyde 
Park, 431 

Nipnichsen, Indian village on 
Spuyten Duyvil neck, 345 

Niverville, in Rensselaer Co., 459 

Nomenclature of hotels and the- 
atres, suggested reform in, 296 

Non-importation agreement, signed, 
21; terms of, 63, 64; renewed, 64 

Non-intercourse act injures Hud- 
son's trade, 457 

Norton, L., farm, 242 

Norton, Mary, farm, 242 



O 



Oblong, the, territory added to 

New York, 441 
O'Callaghan, E. B., State archivist, 

4 
Ogden, William, farm, 242 
Oldljoy, Felix, calls Broadway "an 

accidental thoroughfare," 175; 

quoted about canals, 332 



Old Guard, parades, 83; armory of, 
272; history of, 273 

Omnibuses, 142, 143; first appear- 
ance of, 145; routes, names, and 
equipment, 145; Fifth Ave., 146; 
last on Broadway, 231 

Onrest, or Restless, vessel built 
by Block, 2 

Orange riots, 286, 288 

Osborne, Gov. Sir Danvers, suicide 
of, 62 

Oscawanna, 394 

Ossining township, 385; Sint Sinck 
Indians at, 386; bought by 
Philipse, 386; limestone quar- 
ries at, 386; State prison at, 386 

Oswego, market, 38-40, 62; Land- 
ing, 38 

Owens, John E., in Solon Shingle, 
207 

O'Sullivan, John L., organizes 
Broadway surface road, 228 



PafT, footnote, 56; shop, 137 

Palatinate, desolation of, 61, 439 

Palatine Bridge, 440 

Palatines, build church, 61 ; flee to 
England and America, 439; settle 
on I^ivingston Manor, 439; dis- 
tress of, 440; their dispersion, 
440; at Cla^'erack, 450 

Palisade, across Manhattan Is., 9; 
gates in, 9; becomes Wall St., 9; 
decay and repairs, 9; demolition 
of, 10, 152; new, on Chambers 
St., 152 

Palmer, Edmund, executed as a 

spy, 399 

Palmer, Frederick, builds Farmers 
Bridge, 339 

Palmo, F., cafe, 183; opera house, 
184 

Panic, of 1837, 124, 125; of 1857, 
126, 216 

Pan ton, George, rector of St. 
John's, Yonkers, 357 

Paparinemo (or Papariniman), In- 
dian name of wading place, 339, 
344; island of, 349 

Parades: Colve's, 16, 79; Indian, 
19; Hamilton, 24, 25, 79; British 
evacuation, 24, 79; Stuyvesant's 
entry, 79-82; Hudson bi-cen- 



498 



Index 



Parades , — ( Con tin ued) 

tenary, 82; Lafayette reception, 
82; French rev'olution of 1830, 
82; Croton water, 82; Kossuth, 
82 ; Prince of Wales, 82 ; JajKinesc 
embassy, 82 ; Franco- Prussian war, 
82; Washington centenary, 82; 
Columbus, 82 ; Fourth of July, 82 ; 
Evacuation Day, 82; departure 
of troops, 83, 139, 142; political, 
83; Roosevelt, 83; Old Guard, 83; 
immigrants, 83; return of troops, 
227; change of route of, 244; 
wheelmen's, 278; dedication of 
Cirant's tomb, 300; ground for, 
in Van Cortlandt Park, 353 

Parise, Augustus, garden, 193 

Parker, Foxhall, house on Broad- 
way, 176 

Parker's restaurant, 255 

Parsons, William Barclay, subway 
engineer, 279 

Parthenon, the, 194 

Patroonships established by West 
India Co., 459 

Patti, Adelina, at Tripler's Hall, 207 

Paulding, James Kirke, footnote, 
57; 155; Placentia estate, 430 

Paulding, John, captor of Andre, 
361, 373; monument to, 398 

Paulding Manor, in Tarrytown, 371 

Paulding, Philip R., builder of 
"Paulding's Folly," 371 

Pavements, Brower (Stone) St., 
T,y, Broadway, 33, 39, 134, 135, 
176, 276; Bowling Green, 33 

Pavonia, Indian massacre at, 4 

Pawling's Purchase, first name of 
Hyde Park, 431 

Payne, John Howard, lies in state 
at City Hall, 1x7 

Peale, Reuben, American Museum, 
194 

Peek, Jan, settles at Peekskill, 395; 
tapster on the Heere Straat, 395 

Peekskill, "Boscobel, " home of 
Beecher at, 370; Andre escort 
recalled at, 378; Indian village 
of Sackhoes, 395; Jan Peck 
settles, 395; American army at, 
396; burnt by Gov. Tryon, 400; 
removed to present site, 401 

Peekskill Bay, 391, 395 

Pell, Albert S., house on Broadway, 
176 



Pell's Manor (Pelham), British 

post, 364 
Pennington, Capt., duel, 64 
Pennsylvania Dutch, origin of, 440 
Pequod Indians receive Mohicans, 

436 
Perr3% Commo. Matthew Calbraith, 

resident of Mt. Pleasant, 369 
Perry, Capt. Oliver Hazard, battle- 
flag, 60; reception at City Hall, 

Petticoat Lane, English name for 
Beaver St., 14 

Pfaff, "Charley," beer cellar, 188; 
literary vi.sitors to, 189 

Philadelphia Almanack, table of 
distances, 344 

Philipsburgh, or Philipseborough, 
Manor of, formed, 339, 346 ; Wcck- 
quaesgeek tract, 363 ; Bissightick 
tract, 364; Pocantico tract, 372; 
Sing Sing tract, 386; northern 
boundary at Croton R., 387 

Philipse, Adolphus, inherits Upper 
Yonkers, 372; his Highland es- 
tate divided, 405, 406 

Philipse, Frederick, first, patent for 
Manor of Philipsburgh, 339, 346; 
builds King's Bridge, 339; objects 
to Farmers' Bridge, 339; Pocant- 
ico, or upper, mills, 344, 380, 381 ; 
buys Van der Donck land, 346; 
called the "Dutch millionaire," 
346; interested in contraband 
trade, 346; backs Capt. Kidd, 346, 
438; returns to his manor, 347; 
his first wife, 351; sells land to 
Jacobus Van Cortlandt, 351; a 
member of Ref. Dutch Church, 
355 ; builds lower mills at Yonkei's, 
357 ; Philipse Castle, 381, 382 ; tab- 
let on Sleepy Hollow Church, 382; 
buys Sing Sing tract, 386 

Philipse, Frederick, second manor 
lord, 347; founds St. John's 
Church, 355, 356; builds manor- 
house, 357; inherits Upper Yon- 
kers, 372 

Philipse, Col. Frederick, third, 
leases Bowling Green, 19; manor 
lord, 346; estates confiscated, 
347; gives to St. John's Church, 
356; estates sold by State, 359; 
history of property, 359; in- 
herits part of Highlands, 405 



Index 



499 



Philipse Manor-house, city hall at 
Yonkers, 357; view of, 358; 
becomes property of C. P. Low, 
359; subsequent history, 359 
Philipstown, 405 

Phillips, Wendell, abolitionist, 183 
Pieters, Jochim, receives grant from 

Kieft, 309; hills, 319 
Pigeon shooting, 295 
Pinteaux, Monsieur, cafe, 183 
Pirates, 43; favored by Gov. 

Fletcher, 346, 438 
Pitt, William, statue of, 22 
Pocantico brook, Indian \illage 

on, 372; location, 380 
Poe, Edgar Allan, Mystery of Marie 
Roget, 150, 155; anecdote of his 
writing Eureka, 169; resident 
at Bloomingdale, 294; visitor 
at Macomb house, 348 
Poelnitz, "Baron," acquires "Min- 

to" estate, 178 
Pomeroy, Gen. Seth, monument 
to, 396, 398; his Highland com- 
mand, 397, 398 
Ponisi, Madam, at Wallack's T., 210 
Poppleton, Mrs., confectionery 

shop, 76 
Post, to Boston, 21; to Albany, 21 
Post, Dr., erects Claremont, 298 
Post, Peter, patriot guide, 361 
Post-office, 21; at Dr. Tillary's, 78; 

Federal, 118; in Rotunda, 129 
Potters' fields, 109; bodies ex- 
humed from, for hospital, 148; 
in Union Sq., 220; in Madison 
Sq., 238 _ 
Poughkeepsie, 415, 422; College 
Hill, 423; first patent, 423; origin 
of name, 424; first settlers, 425; 
civic history, 425; Federal Con- 
stitution adopted at, 427; ship- 
building at, 427; visited by 
Lafayette, 428; Vassar College, 
426-428; bridge, 428, 429; inter- 
collegiate rowing at, 428; 445 
Powder house on Commons, 90 
Price, Stephen, manager Park T., 

166 
Printing-press, first, in New York, 

74 
Prison, State, at Sing Sing, 386; 

new site for, 387 
Privateers, colonial, 42; War of 

1812, 122 



Processions, See Parades 

Province Arms tavern, opened, 62; 
dinner to Gov. Hardy, 62; open- 
ing of King's Coll., 63; becomes 
Burns's Coffee House (or City 
Arms), 63; other owners, 64; 
becomes State Arms, 66; Wash- 
ington entertained at, 66; City 
Hotel on site of, 66 

Province House, 20 

Provincial Assembly, act concern- 
ing Kingsbridge road, 297; act 
concerning Albany Post-road, 344 

Provoost, Widow, house on Great 
George St., 152 

Provost prison, view of, 91; site 
of, 92-94; remodelled, 94; used 
as hospital, 95; public ofSces, 95; 
British soldiers attack, 97; Mc- 
Dougal a prisoner in, 104; re- 
ference, 119 

Publishers and booksellers, 74, 75 

Putnam, George P., Irving's pub- 
lisher, 53; location, 75; collector 
of internal revenue, 128; issues 
Fable for Critics, 157; establishes 
Putnam's Monthly, 158; pub- 
lishes Poe's Eureka, 169; store 
threatened by fire, 207 

Putnam, Gen. Israel, hdqrs., 44; 
120; evacuates city, 133; joins 
Washington, 264, 288 ; commands 
the Highlands, 397; executes 
Palmer, 399 

Putnam, Major 'Ruius, engineer, 
326 

Putnam County, Historical So- 
ciety preserves mile stones, foot- 
note, 399; Continental Village in, 
400; formation of, 405; taken 
from Dutchess Co., 414 



Q 



Quakers associate in founding 
Hudson, 456 

Quarantine at Staten Is., 78 

Queen Anne, grants farm to Trinity, 
59; farm, 136; grant to Beekman, 
431; assists Palatines, 439 

Queen's Head tavern, 63 



R 



Rachel, 139; at Tripler's Hall, 207 



500 



Index 



Rahl, Col., hdqrs. at Blue BcU 
tavern, 332 

Railroads: N. Y, & N. H. station, 
174; Broadwa}^ surface, 228-234; 
changes in motive power, 233, 
234; Pennsylviuiia station, 255; 
elevated, 278; subway, 279, 280; 
Beach pneumatic, 279; N. Y. 
Central, change of course at 
ship canal, 334; 339; Putnam 
station at Kingsbridge, 349; 
change at Kingsbridge, 350; Hud- 
son River, built, 359; Pough- 
keepsie & Eastern, 428; Boston 
& Albany, footnote, 454 

Randall, John, Jr., street com- 
mission's surveyor, 174 

Randall, Robert R., acquires 
"Minto" estate, 178; establishes 
Sailor's Snug Harbor, 178, 179 

Ranelagh Garden, on Rutgers farm, 
194 

Rapid Transit, Board, 279; Com- 
mission, 279 

Ravmond, John T., in The Gilded 
Age, 235 _ 

Reaches, river, Alartelaer's, 410; 
Clover, 448 

Red Hook, 430; settlers in, 432; 
origin of name, 433 

Red Hook, Upper, 430; Indian 
battle-field at, 433 

Reed, Adjutant-Gen., meets flag 
of truce, 121 

Regiment, Seventh, draft riots, 
128; departs for Civil War, 141, 
142; Astor Place Riot, 196; 

459 

Regiment, Ninth, members killed 

in Orange Riot, 288 
Regiment, Twenty-second, marche.; 

to new armory, 276; armory, 

276; sketch of, 277 
Regiment, Seventy-first, armory of, 

255, 268 
Regiment, Seventy-ninth, Gov. 

Fenton reviews, 227 
Rehan, Ada,, at Daly's T., 251 
Rensselaer (formerly Greenbush), 

owned by De Laet, 461; first 

settlers in, 461; conveyed to 

Johannes Van Rensselaer, 461 
Rensselaer County, formed from 

Albany Co., 436; fine farms in, 

446; post-road through, 459 



Rensselaer Manor (or Rcnsselaers- 
wyck), anti-rent wars on, 442; 
Lower Manor of, 450; 452, 459; 
patent for, 461; first settlers on, 
466; Beverwyck charter affects, 
466 
Rcnwick, Jane, Burns's "Blue- 
Eyed Lassie, " 53 
Renwick, Professor, member 
"Bread and Cheese" Club, 53, 154 
Reservoir on Broadway, 36, 166 
Rhinebeck, 430; origin of name, 
431; first purchase of, 432; 
Dutch settlers in, 432; precinct, 
432; 437> 454 
"Rialto, " the, for actors, 256 
Rickett's Amphitheatre, 166 
Rignold, George, at Booth's T., 

205 
Riker, James, quoted, 336 
Riots: Bread, 125, 126; Draft, 126, 
127; draft stopped, 128; Doctors', 
148, 149; Orange, 286-288; 
Colored Orphan Asylum burned, 
312; on Livingston Manor, 440, 
441; anti-rent, 441 
Riverdale, Indian hiding-places in, 

.353 . 

Riverside Drive, 276, 298 

Rivington, printer, 74 

Road-houses: Buck's Horn, 233, 
234; Madison Cottage, 238, 240; 
on Bloomingdale road, 295; in 
Audubon Park, 315; on Kings- 
'oridge road, 331 

Roa Hook, State camp at, 393, 
397; site of Ft. Independence, 
397 

Robinson, Col. Beverly, acquires 
part of Highlands, 405; erects 
mill, 407; house used by American 
commanders, 408 

Robson and Crane at Star T., 21 1 

Rochambeau, Comte de, at Van 
Cortlandt mansion, 353; at 
Dobbs Ferry, 362, 363; at Van 
Cortlandt manor-house, 391 ; 
comment on American army, 394 

Rockwell, Charles, at Wallack's 
T., 210 

Rockwood, George G., at closing 
of Wallack's T., 211 

Roelof Jansen's kill, 414; Living- 
ston buys land on, 438; 439; 
squatters on, 442 ; location of, 445 



Index 



501 



Rogers, Ann, farm, 298 

Rogers, John, leases Bowling Green, 
27 

Rogers, John, first settler in High- 
lands, 407 

Rogers, Alajor, attempt to release 
from New Jail, 97 

Rogers, Mary, mysterious death of, 

150 

Rogers, Nathan, hanged in effigy, 

105 

Rokeby estate, sketeh of, 433 
Rombout, Frangois, well, 36; house 

of, 51; grant in Dutchess Co., 

414 
Roosa, patentee of Kipsl)urgh 

Manor, 432 
Roosevelt, John, leases Bowling 

Green, 19 
Roosevelt, Theodore, reception to, 

83; at Sleepy Hollow Church 

bi-centenary, 384 
Root, Elihu, counsel for Jacob 

Sharp, 232 
Ropewalk, on line of Great George 

St., 34 
Rotunda, the, picture of, 127; 

erection of, 129; various uses of, 

129 
Rowing, intercollegiate, at Pough- 

keepsie, 428 
Rudde, William, bookseller, 75 
Ruggles, Samuel B., improvers 

Union Sq. and Gramercy Park, 

221 
Russell, Lillian, at Tony Pastor's, 

216 
Rutgers, Anthony, grantee of land 

near Canal St., 171; house be- 
comes Ranelagh Garden, 194 
Rutgers, Col. Henry, chairman of 

meetings, 121, 122; gives lot 

to Presbyterian Church, 290 
Rutgers, Widow, farm, 134; farm, 

site of N. Y. Hospital, 148 
Rutherford, John, street com- 
missioner, 174 
Ryckman, Mrs., boarding-house 

keeper, 53 



Sackhoes, Indian village, 395 
Sage, Mrs. Russell, purchases Con- 
stitution Island, 411 



Sailors' Snug Harbor, 178, 179 

Salmagundi, "The Stranger at 
Home, or a Tour of Broadway," 
54-57; authors of, footnote, 57; 
155, 156, 430 

Saltus, Col. "Nick," forms Union 
Club, 67 

vSamler farm, 242 

Sands' Mills (Armonk), Andre 
taken to, 397 

Sandy Hook, lottery for lighthouse 
on, 63 

Sawmill River, origin of name, 359 

Saxe, John Godfrey, quoted, 28, 199 

Scarborough, village of, 385 

Schenectady, meaning of name, 
463 ; fur trade at, 466 

Schodac, of Indian origin, 436; 
post-road through, 459 

School, Normal, established, 178 

Schreyer's Hoek, see Battery 

Schuyler, Alida, marries Robert 
Livingston, 437 

Schuyler, Peter, grant from Dongan, 
423; Magdalen Island purchase, 
432; grant in Kinderhook, 452 

Schuyler, Gen. Philip, 435; guest 
at Van Schaack house, 454 

Scott, Gen. Winfield, reception at 
City Hall, 116 

Scott-Siddons, Mrs., debut at N. Y. 
Theatre, 217 

Scudder, John, his American Mu- 
seum, 96, 196 

Sears, Isaac, called "King," 44; 
occupies Kennedy house, 44; 
injured, loi; sent to New Jail, 
107 

Settlers, Dutch, 5, 383, 415,^ 425, 
432, 446, 452, 462, 466; English, 8, 
415; German, 415, 431, 432, 446; 
Huguenot, 415, 432, 446; Pala- 
tine, 439, 450 

Seward, William H., statue of, 237 

Seymour, Gov. Horatio, addresses 
rioters, 128 

Seymour, Nelse, negro minstrel, 
217, 218 

Shackbury, Dr., composes "Yan- 
kee Doodle," 461 

Sharp, Jacob, 35; organizes Broad- 
way surface railway, 228; im- 
prisoned, 232 

Sharpless, James, English painter, 
76 



502 



Index 



Sheldon, Col., ambushes Hessians, 

361; his dragoons, 377; Andre 

taken to his quarters, 378 
Shcpard, Elliott F., estate at 

Scarborough, 385 
Shepherd & Johnson, stage route 

to Chelsea, 146 
Sherman Square, 292 
Shoemakers' Land, 77 
Shorrack-kappock, Indian name 

of Kingsbridge, 345 
Sidewalks, called strookes, 33; first, 

134; on Broadway, 162, 176 
Simcoe, Lt.-Col. John G., defeats 

Stockbridge Indians, 353 ; attempt 

to capture Col. Gist, 357 
Sing Sing, 370; origin of name, 386; 

State prison at, 386 
Singer Building, view of, 69 
Sint Sinck Indians, 343; at Ossining, 

386 
Six Nations, 460 
Skating rink, Cosmopolitan, 261; 

Metropolitan, 272 
Skinners, American irregulars, 364 
Slack, Sarah, farm, 266 
Sleepy Hollow, church, 382; picture, 

3«3 

Sleighs on Broadway, frontispiece; 
146 

Slough ter, Gov., arrives in N. Y., 
17; orders trial of Leisler, 17; 
character of, 17; signs death 
warrant of Leisler and Milborne, 
18; death of, 18; quoted as to 
importance of Albany, 466 

Sluyter visits Claverack, 450 

Small-pox, inoculation for, 400 

Smedes, Abraham K., farm, 310 

Smith, Gerrit, abolitionist, 183 

Smith, John, farm, 222 

Smith, Joshua Hett, Andr6-Arnold 
interview at his house, 385; with 
Andre, crosses King's Ferry, 393; 
arrested at Fishkill, 417; his 
trial, 418 

Smith, Jotham, shop, 137, 157 

Smith, Melancthon, opposes adop- 
tion of Federal Constitution, 426 

Snyder's brewery, 164 

Somerindyke, Richard, farm, 283; 
view of house, 284; Louis PhiHppe 
at his house, 295 

Sons of Liberty, make demonstra- 
tion, 21; hdqrs., 63, 93, 104; 



place of resort, 77; origin of name, 
97; act against press gang, 98; 
against Stamp Act, 98, 99; cele- 
brate arrival of Gov. Moore, 100; 
erect liberty-poles, loi; attacked 
by British soldiers, loi, 102 

Sons of the Revolution, custodians 
of Fraunce's tavern, 63; erect 
tablet at Trinity Cemetery, 314; 
erect Pomeroy monument at 
Cortlandtville, 399 

Sontag, Henrietta, at Triplcr's 
Hall, 207 

Sothern, Edwin, 213, 217 

South Schodac, on post-road, 459 

Southworth, Mrs. E. D. E. N., 
resident of Yonkers, 368 

Sparta village, 385; Vulture fires 
at tombstones, 385; birthplace 
of Admiral John L. Worden, 385; 
copper mine at, 386 

Spingler, Henry, farm on site of 
Union Sq., 222 

Spingler Institute, 222 

Spring Garden, 104; house, 134 

Spuyten Duyvil Creek, Indian name 
of, 334; origin of nemie, 334, 335; 
story of Anthony the Trumpeter, 
336, 337; mill and dams on, 348 

Spuyten Duyvil neck, 345; forti- 
fications on, 350 

Squatters, Dutch, 6; in parks, 220, 
238; near Bloomingdale road, 
277, 278; on Roelof Jansen's kill, 
442 

Staats, Major Abraham, first grant 
in Claverack, 431; house burned 
by Indians, 450; 452 

Staats, Dr. Samuel, at Staatsburg, 

431; 432 
Staatsburg, 430; origin of name, 431 
Stage routes, 144; to Greenwicli 

village, 145; to Chelsea, 146 
Stamp Act, passed, 21, 97; repeal 

of, 22, 100; meeting at Burns's 

Cofi'ee House, 63; Congress, 98 
Stanford & Swords, booksellers, 75 
State Arms tavern, 66 
State camp at Roa Hook, 393, 

397 
Staten Island, quarantine station 

at, 78; Sailors' Snug Harbor on, 

179 
States-General, grants licences to 

trade, 3; correspondence with, 4 



Index 



503 



Statues: De Peyster, 18; George 
III., 22, 23; Pitt, 22; on custom- 
house, 30; Washington, 223; 
Lafayette, 224; Lincohi, 224; 
Seward, 237; Farragut, 246; 
Greeley, 254; Dodge, 254; Cohim- 
bus, 274; Verdi, 292 

"Steamsliip Row," on site of fort, 
28, 29 

Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 156; 
at PfafT's, 189 

Steel, tavern-keeper, 45 

Steuben, Baron, injured in Doctor's 
Riot, 149; at Van Cortlandt 
manor-house, 391; drill-master 
of American army, 394; Order 
of the Cincinnati formed at his 
hdqrs., 420 

Stevens family, 48 

Stewart, Alexander T., shop, 157; 
establishes business, 159; re- 
movals, 160; body of, stolen, 160; 
uptown store, 181; 188; owner 
of Niblo's, 204; owner of the 
Athenaeum, 217 

Stewart, James, farm, 242 

Stilwell, Senator, bill to use City 
Hall park for new court-house, 

Stockbridge Indians, defeat of, 353; 
originally Mohicans, 437; their 
history, 437 

Stoddard, Richard Henry, 156; 
footnote, 157 

Stone bridge, view of, 173; origin 
of, 174 

Stone, William Leete, journalist, 156 

Stoutenburgh, Jacobus, settler at 
Staatsburg, 431 

Streets: Tuyn, Garden, or Exchange 
Place, 2; irregularity of, 6; lice re 
Slraat, 6; Great Queen (or Pearl), 
6; Bridge, 8, 15; Beaver, 8, 15; 
W'all, 9; first map of, 10; White- 
hall, 14; State, 14; Marketfield, 14; 
Petticoat Lane, 14; Morris, 15; 
Great George, 31, 34, 36, 84; 
Brower (Stone), 33; cleaning of, 
40; William, dry -goods section, 
41; Rector, 51, 52, 60, 61; 
Vesey, 52, 136; Pine, 61: Maiden 
Lane regulated, 77; Thomas, 134, 
148; Fair (Division or Fulton), 
136; Barclay, 137; Murray, 137; 
Chambers, 137 — palisade in, 152; 



Chambers, opened, 152; Warren, 
137; Robinson (Park Place), 137; 
Duggan (now Canal), 173; Canal, 
regulation of, 173; commission 
to lay out, 174; plan of, i74;Astor 
Place (Sand Hill road), 178; 
Lafayette Place established, 196; 
Western Boulevard opened, 274; 
Harsen's lane, 288; footnote, 
290; Harlem lane, 297; St. 
Nicholas Ave., 297; Manhattan, 
305. 333; Hamilton Place, 308; 
Macomb, 345, 348; Beekman, 431 
Striker farm, 266 
Stringer & Townsend, booksellers, 

75 
Strong, Mayor Wm. L., approves 

subway plans, 279 
Stryker, James, farm, 298 
Stuyvesant, Balthasar, farm, 10 
Stuyvesant, Nicholas, farm, 10 
Stuyvesant, Gov. Peter, resents 
English encroachments, 8, 9, 422; 
builds Whitehall, 14; marshals 
army on Bowling Green, 15; 
surrenders New Amsterdam, 16; 
grant to Ide, 298; grant to De 
Kay, 305; grants to Harlem, 309; 
thwarts Van der Donck, 346; 
366, 431; declares Claverack 
purchase void, 448; compels 
Van Rensselaer to divide his 
domain, 460; gives charter to 
Beverwyck, 466 
Stuyvesant Falls, 456, 458 
St. Andrew's Society, 64 
St. George's Cricket Club, 248 
St. John's Park, 20 
St. Luke's Hospital, 302 
St. Paul Building, on site of Bar- 

num's Museum, 199 
St. John, Charles, hatter, 68 
St. John & Toucey, tailors, 53 
Subway, 279; contracts for, let, 
280; sections under Broadway, 
280; openings of, 280; 281; via- 
duct at Manhattan St., 307 ; depth 
of, at Washington Heights, 315; 
across Harlem ship canal, 334; 
at Van Cortlandt Park, 349, 355 
Sullivan, General, punitive ex- 
pedition against Iroquois, 390 
vSumner, Charles, attacked by Pres- 
ton Brooks, 183; guest at Van 
Schaack house, 454 



504 



Index 



Sunnyside, home of Irving, 364; 

Iiow built, 366; sketch of, 366 
Swedes, Dutch expedition against, 

79 
Swords, T. & Jm booksellers, 74 



Tablets: Washington Building, 2; 
City Hotel, 68; Montgomery, at 
St. Paul's, 72; City Hall, 108; 
subway, 118; at Times Sq., 266; 
Knowlton and Leitch, 304, 305; 
at Trinity Cemetery, 314; on 
Morris house, 323; at Tarry town 
station, 372; to Irving, on Christ 
Church, 372; on Sleepy Hollow 
church, 382; on Van Cortlandt 
house, Cortlandtville, 398 
Talleyrand, 44; is entertained by 

Jumels, 319 
Tallmadge, Maj. Benj., custodian 

of Andre, 377, 378 
Tallman, John H., farm, 282 
Tammany Hall, 153, 212 
Tanners, ordinance against, 77 
Tappan, execution of Andre at, 380 
Tarleton, Col. Banastre, 48; de- 
feats Stockbridge Indians, 353 
Tarrytown, fine estates in, 370; 
origin of the name, 371; Irving's 
solution, 372; Revolutionary con- 
flicts, 371, 372; tablet at station, 
372; St. Joseph's Normal School, 
372; other schools, 372; tablet 
to Irving, 372 
Tattersall's, horse exchange, 2CO 
Taverns: Kocks's and Krigier's, 42; 
King's Arms, 45; John Corbett's, 
52 ; Province Arms, 62 ; Horse and 
Cart, 62; King's Head, 63; 
City Arms, 63; Queen's Head 
(Fraunce's), 63; State Arms, 66; 
Drovers' Inn, 137; Bull's Head, 
137; Stone Bridge, 174; Buck's 
Horn, 233, 234; Madison Cot- 
tage, 238, 240; Half-way House, 
273; Crossed Keys, 322, 323; 
Blue Bell, 331-333; Dyckman's, 
340; Hyatt's, 340; Century House, 
340; Kingsbridge, 342; Cock's, 
at Kingsbridge, 348; Dusen- 
berry's, at Cortlandtville, 399, 
400; Rogers's, in the Highlands, 
407; described by De Chastellux, 



418; Blue Store, 446, 447; Kel- 

logg's, in Hudson, 447 
Taylor, Bayard, 156; at Pfaff's, 189 
Taylor, James, farm, 242 
Taylor, Wm., D. D., at Tabernacle, 

255 

Taylor, Pres't Zachary, funeral, 82 

Taylor's restaurant, 184 

Tea landed in N. Y., 106 

Tea parties given by aldermen, 117 

Tea-water pump, 36 

Teachers College, 302 

Teller house, occupied by Brett, 419 

Teller's, or Sarah's, Point, Vulture 
anchors off, 392 

Temple, Charlotte, grave in Trinity 
churchyard, 61 

Ten Broeck, Dirck Wessel, settles 
in Claverack, 442 

"Tenderloin," the, 211, 248 

Tetard's Hill, American fortifi- 
cations on, 350 

Thacher, Dr., inoculation for small- 
pox, 399, 400 

Thackeray, Wm. M., 156 

Theatres: Bowery, on site of 
Bull's Head tavern, 137; Niblo's 
Garden, 67, 192 — hist, of, 202- 
204 — The Black Crook at, 204 — 
later hist, of, 205, 206; Broadway, 
benefit for Kipp & Brown, 145 — 
burnt, 202 — new T. (formerly 
Apollo Saloon), 212; Gothic Hall, 
164; Apollo Rooms, pict. of, 165; 
Rickett's Amphitheatre, 166; Con- 
cert Hall, 167; Enterprise Hall, 
1 67; Apollo Gallery, 167; Palmo's 
Opera House, becomes Burton's 
T., 183; Park, location of, 192 — 
company at Mt. Vernon Garden, 
194 — company at Olympic T., 
199; American Museum, Peale's, 
194 — becomes Barnum's, 194 — 
erection of, 196 — view of, burning, 
197 — anecdotes of, 197, 198 — re- 
opens at Spring St., 211 — burnt, 
211; Opera House (on site of 
Mercantile Library), Macready 
riot, 196; New York Museum, 
196; Olj^mpic, at Nos. 442-448 
Broadway, 199, 200 — Mitchell 
as manager, 200 — other managers, 
202; Tripler's Hall, hist, of, 206, 
207 — changes of name, 207; 
Winter Garden, 207; Lyceum, 



Index 



505 



Theatres, — (Continued) 

under Brougham, 208 — under 
Wallack, 208; Wallack's, at 13th 
St., 208, 209 — hist, of, 210 — 
moves uptown, 251 ; Star, 210 — 
final performance, 211; Chinese 
Rooms, become Barnum's, 211 — 
burned, 211; Old Broadway, 
picture of, 212 — history of, 213; 
Laura Keene's Varieties, 213, 
214 — becomes Olympic, 214; 
Olympic (formerly Laura 

Keene's), Humpty Dumpty at, 
214; Buckley's Alinstrel Hall, 
bad luck of, 214; San Francisco 
minstrels, 214 — move uptown, 
250; Metropolitan, under Tony 
Pastor, 215; New Theatre Com- 
ique, 215 — under Harrigan and 
Hart, 217— theirpopularity, 218 — 
becomes Old London Street, 218; 
Wood's Minstrel Hall and T., 
Harrigan and Hart at, 216; 
Wood's Marble Hall, minstrels, 
216; Athenaeum, later, Lucy 
Rushton's and Worrell Sisters' 
N. Y. Theatre, 217 — becomes 
Daly's, 2 1 7 — becomes Globe, 217; 
Kelly & Leon's Minstrel Hall, 
218; Lina Edward's, 218; Hope 
Chapel, 218; Broadway Academy 
of Music, 218; Blitz's New Hall, 
218; minor places on Broadway, 
219; Abbey's Park, 234 — burned, 
236, 259; Franconi's Hippo- 
drome, on site of Madison 
Cottage, 238, 239; theatres be- 
tween 23d and 34th streets, 
251, 252; theatres between 34th 
and 42d streets, 259-261; 
theatres above 42d St., 268, 270, 
272, 274; prices of seats in, 208, 
269 

Theatrical trust, 252, 268, 269 

Thompson, Corporal, opens Aladi- 
son Cottage, 238 

Thorne, Colonel, acquires Ap- 
thorpe property, 286 

Tibbett's brook, 345; origin of 
name, 349; Van Cortlandt buys 
land on, 351 

Tilden, Samuel J., estate at Grey- 
stone, 360; presides at Andre 
capture centenary, 375; born in 
Columbia Co., 450 



Tillary, Dr. James, post-oflfice at 
house of, 78 

Time ball, for mariners, 70 

Times, the, building, 262-264 

Tollemache, Capt., fights duel, 64 

Toll-gates, 345,^ 360, 445, 457 

Tontine Association, erects City 
Hotel, 66 

Tories, or loyalists, lose property, 
282, 347; outrages by, 283; De 
Lanceys as, 283, 284 

Townships formed, 349, 425 

Trails, Indian, Kingsbridge road, 
310; development of, into roads, 
343, 344; through the Highlands, 
407; through Livingston's Manor, 
440 

Trees, 33, 61, 176, 280; on Albany 
Post-road, 430 

Tribune, the, attacked by rioters, 
128 

Trinity Church Corporation, erects 
monument, 61; erects St. Paul's 
Chapel, 71 

Troops, departure of, 139-142 

Trumbull, John, 76 

Tryon, Governor, 20; visits Van 
Cortlandt Manor, 390; destroj^s 
Peekskill and Cortlandtville, 400 

Tulip tree in Union Sq., 179, 220 

Twain, Mark, 235 

Tweed, Wm. M., threatens Grace 
Church, 180; as alderman, 229 

Tweed Ring, builds county court- 
house, 129:229; opens Boulevard, 
275; buys trees for Boulevard, 
280 

Twins, Siamese, exhibition of, 219 



U 



Ulster County, 412, 436 
Uncas, Mohican chief, 436, 437 
Undercliff, estate of Geo. P. Morris, 

411. 413 
Union Club, formation of, 67 
Union Dime Savings Bank, omnibus 
terminus at, 147; increment of 
land value, 252 
Union Square, lighted, 38; called 
Union Place, 220; public meet- 
ing place, 220; potter's field, 
220; regulated, 221; fashionable 
section, 222; picture of, 225; 
bomb throwing in, 226 



5o6 



Index 



United Netherlands Company, for- 
mation, 2; charter expires, 3 

Untermeyer, Samuel, estate of 
Greystone, 360; phenomenal law- 
yer's fee, 360 

Upper party, Americans in Neutral 
Ground, 364 

Usselinx, Willem, his reasons for 
colony in New Netherland, 3 

V 

Valatie, on Albany Post-road, 459 

Valentine's Hill, British post, 364 

Van Alen, Katrina, original of 
Katrina Van Tassel, 452, 454 

Van Amburgh's Menagerie with 
Barnum, 211 

Van Buren, Pres't Martin, monu- 
ment at Kinderhook, 451; his 
home at Kinderhook, 452; enter- 
tains Irving, 452 

Van Corlaer, Anthony, Indian agent 
for Van Rensselaer, 460 

\'an Cortlandt family, 48; owners 
of property below Canal St., 166 

Van Cortlandt, Catherine, erects 
Sleepy Hollow church, 382 

Van Cortlandt, Frederick, builds 
mansion in Van C. Park, 352 

Van Cortlandt, Frederick, city clerk 
of N. Y., 352; owner of "Upper 
Van Cortlandt's," 352; house 
used by British, 353; hides city 
records, 354 

Van Cortlandt, Jacobus, marries 
Eva Phihpse, 351; erects house 
and mills in Van C. Park, 351 

Van Cortlandt, Jacobus, succeeds 
to property, 352; a Tory, 353 

Van Cortlandt, Oloflf Stevenson, 
owner of Damen farm, 68 

Van Cortlandt, Gen. Philip, his 
military services, 390 

Van Cortlandt, Pierre, Gov. Tryon 
visits, 390; his civic services to 
the State, 390 

Van Cortlandt, Stephanus, patent 
for manor, 388; division of manor, 
3S8; in Rombout grant, 414 

Van Cortlandt Manor, manor- 
house, 388, 389; historic asso- 
ciations of manor-house, 391; 
Whitefield and Asbury preach 
at, 392; Cortlandtville in, 397 



Van Cortlandt Mansion, 345, 349, 
351; built by Fred. Van C, 352; 
used as museum, 352; known 
as "Lower \'an Cortlandt's," 
352; distinguislicd visitors at, 

353 

Van Cortlandt Park, terminus ol 
subway, 282, 349, 355; dam and 
mills in, 352; Indian Field in, 
353. 354; formation of, 353; 
parade ground, 353; Vault Hill 
in, 354 

Van der Donck, Adrien, called de 
Jonkheer, buys land above Har- 
lem R., 345; becomes a patroon, 
346 ; 349 ; site of house, 352 ; builds 
mills on Nepperhan R., 359; 
mentions Kinderhook and Clav- 
erack, 454; sheriff of Rensselaers- 
wyck, 460 

Van Dyke, country place in Dutch 
days, 6 

Van Hoesen, Jan Frans, first 
settler in Claverack, 450; his 
patent includes Hudson, 456 

Van Kleeck, Baltus, house, erection 
of, 424, 425; legislature meets at, 
425; news of Yorktown received 
at, 426 

Van Ness, Judge Wm. P., builds 
Linden wald, 450; Burr's second 
in Hamilton duel, 451 ; entertains 
Irving, 451 

Van Norden, farm, 242 

Van Oblinus, Pieter, farm in Har- 
lem, 310 

Van Rensselaer, Hendrick, dispute 
with Livingston, 441 

Van Rensselaer, Johannes, forms 
Lower Manor, 450; receives Cralo 
and Claverack, 461 

Van Rensselaer, Kilian, patroon, 
445; acquires land in Claverack, 
448; becomes patroon, 459; his 
first purchases, 460; his colony 
of Renssclaerswyck, 460 

Van Rensselaer Manor (or Rens- 
sclaerswyck), see Rensselaer 
Manor 

Van Schaack house, 453; distin- 
guished visitors at, 454 

Van Slechtenhorst buys land at 
Claverack, 448 

Van Tassel, Jacob, 366; his goose- 
gun, 368 



Index 



507 



Van Tassel, Katrina, character of 
Irving's, 368; original of, 452 

Van Tienhoven, Secretary Cor- 
nells, farm, 11, 76, 77; house 
of, 42 ; buys Keskeskeck on main- 
land, 343 ' 

\'an Twiller, Director, builds fort, 
12 

\'an Wart, Rev. Alexander, at 
Andre centenary, 375 

\'an Wart, Isaac, captor of Andre, 
362, 373 

Van Wyck, Abraham, ball-alley, 77 

Vandenheuvel, John C, farm on 
Bloomingdale road, 283, 294; 
his town house, 294 

Vanderbilt, Wm. H., buys Hopper 
farm, for Horse Exchange, 268 

Vandergrift, country place, 6; fire 
buckets at house of, 10 

Vanderlyn, John, erects Rotunda, 
129 

Varian, Isaac, farm, 222, 242; tree, 
247, 248; cottage, 249 

Vassar College, view of Thompson 
Library, 426; of main building, 
427; formation of, 428 

Vassar, Matthew, founds college, 
428 

Vaughan, General, burns Clermont 
mansions, 444 

Vault Hill, in Van C. park, 354; 
decoy camp-fires on, 355 

Verdi, Giuseppe, statue of, 292 

Verplanck, Gulian, grant in Dutch- 
ess Co., 414; Order of the Cin- 
cinnati organized in his house, 420 

Verplanck Gulian C, editor, 74; 
154' 155; ancestral home of, 
420 

Verplanck, Philip, surveys Van C. 
Manor, 388 

Verplanck's Point, King's Ferry 
at, 355, 394; historic importance 
of, 394; French army arrives at, 

394 
Verveelen, Johannes, Harlem ferry- 
man, 338 
Vesey, Rev. William, first rector 

of Trinity, 52 
Vineyard, the, pleasure resort, 85 
Vlacte, the, 9; becomes the Com- 
mons, 84 
Volckertsen, Dutch trader, 2 
Von Hoffman, "Baron," adven- 
turer, 168 



Vulture, the, British vessel in 
Andre affair, 378; fires at Sparta 
graveyard, 385; anchors off 
Teller's Point, 392 

W 

Wading place, in Harlem, 328; 
description of, 337, 338; ferry 
removed to, 338; 344 

Wallack, James W., manager, 208; 
last appearance, 208, 210 

Wallack, Lester, 208; manager, 210; 
his two theatres, 210; his uptown 
theatre, 251 

Wappingers, Indian tribe, 422; 
friendly to Dutch, 423; battle 
with Iroquois, 433; 436 

Wappingers Falls, 399, 422; Massa- 
chusetts encroaches on, 422 

War of 18 1 2, declared, 121; devas- 
tation by British, 122; fortifi- 
cations in N. Y., 123, 124; 
injures Hudson's trade, 457; 
Greenbush a military dep6t dur- 
ing, 461 

Waranoak Indians, 412, 415 

Wards, West, 38, 48; division of 
city into, 133; boundaries of, 

133; 136 

Waring, Colonel, cleans N. Y. 
streets, 40 

Warner, Anna, present owner of 
Constitution Island, 411; her 
Bible class at West Point, 411 

Warner, Henry, owner of Consti- 
tution Island, 410 

Warner, Susan, author, 410; her 
Bible class at West Point, 411 

Warren, Minnie, at Barnum's, 211 

Warren, Admiral Sir Peter, secures 
lot at No. I Broadway, 43; street 
named after, 136; farm, 222 

Washington, Gen. George, calls 
council, 24; to occupy Govern- 
ment House, 25; hdqrs. in 
Kennedy house, 44; cognizant 
of Champe's plot, 47; lives in 
McComb house, 50; anecdote of, 
in connection with Washington 
Irving, 50, 51; attends St. Paul's, 
71; centenary, 82, 115; sends 
Nathan Hale on mission, 120; 
statue of, in Union Sq., 223; 
Arch, 244; meets Putnam, 264; 
at Apthorpe mansion, 288 ; hdqrs. 



508 



Index 



Washington, Gen. — Continued 
in Morris house, 305, 318; directs 
battle of Harlem Heights, 305, 
307; meets Mary Philipse, 318; 
meets Alexander Hamilton, 319; 
visit to Morris house, 319; leaves 
garrison in Ft. Washington, 326; 
at Blue Bell tavern, 332; at 
Van Cortlandt mansion, 353; 
receives news of De Grasse and 
Lafayette, 354; leaves camp- 
fires on Vault Hill, 355; hdqrs. at 
Dobbs Ferry, 362, 363; quota- 
tion of, on Andre monument, 
374; meets French officers at 
Hartford, 377; his connection 
with Andr^, 378-380; orders 
court-martial on Andre, 378; 
mentions Croton bridge in diary, 
387, 391; at Peekskill, 396; at 
Cold Spring, 411; interview with 
Harvey Birch, 412; sword of, 
417; prevents insubordination 
in army, 433 

Washington Hall, erection of, 153; 
"Bread and Cheese" Club at, 
154; acquired by Stewart, 160 

Washington Heights, 280; original 
grant to Jochim Pieters, 309; 
what the subway has done for, 

315 

Water, Croton, 28, 37; from wells, 
34, 36; CoUes's scheme to obtain, 
36; quality of, 36, t^j; Manhattan 
Co. to supply, 36, 37 

Watkins, Samuel, farm, 310 

Watts, John, at No. 3 Broadway, 
45; farm of, 222 

Wayne, Gen. Anthony, Life of, 434 

Weather Bureau, 74 

Webb, Gen. James Watson, resi- 
dent of Mt. Pleasant, 369; born 
in Claverack, 450 

Weber, Philip, farm, 266 

Webster, Daniel, 50, 139, funeral, 
82; reception at City Hall, 115 

Weckquaesgeek Indians, 343; vil- 
lage at Dobbs Ferry, 363; war 
with, 383 

Weed, Thurlow, political boss, 139 

Weepers' Point, see Battery 

Wells, public, 34; Mr. Rombout's, 
36; abolished, 36 

Wells & Patterson, shop, 137 

Wendell, or Elm, Park, formerly 
Apthorpe estate, 286 



West India Company, formation 
and objects of, 3; correspondence 
with, 4; grants burgher govern- 
ment, 10; farm, 6, 59, 60, 139; 
establishes patroonships, 459; 
sends first colony, 462 

West Point, chain across Hudson, 
397; Andre on his way to, 399; 
hdqrs. of commander of, 408; 
completion of new buildings, 409; 
at outbreak of Spanish war, 409; 
Bible classes at, 411; Foundry, 
411 

Westchester, English settlement at, 
8; parish, 356; British post, 364 

Westchester County, formed, 343; 
literary people in, 368-370; 
extent of Van Cortlandt manor, 
388; campaign, 416 

Weymouth, printer, 74 

Wharton house, Harvey Birch 
escapes from, 419 

Wheeler, A. C. (Nym Crinkle), 
resident of Mt. Pleasant, 369 

Wheelmen, 276, 278 

White Plains, Bloomingdale Asy- 
lum removes to, 302; American 
retreat to, 318; 372; Dec. of 
Independence read at, 416 

White Way, the Great, 86, 256, 
257, 262 

Whitefield, George, preaches at 
Van Cortlandt manor, 392 

Whitehall, the, sketch of, 14 

Whitman, Walt, at Pfaff's, 189 

Wicopee, Indians, 412; pass, 412 

Willard, of the City Hotel, 67, 68 

Willemstadt, Dutch rename for 
Albany, 465 

Willett, Edward, opens Province 
Arms, 62 

Willett, Marinus, 77; secretary of 
meetings, 121, 122 

William and Mary, declaration of, 
as sovereigns, 17 

Williams, Cornelius, farm, 222 

Williams, David, captor of Andre, 

373 
Willis, Nathaniel P., 154, 157 
Wilmot, David, guest at Van 

Schaack house, 454 
Windmill in Heere Slraat, 6 
Windust, Edward, opens Athenaeum 

Hotel, 166 
Winnakee brook, at Poughkeepsie, 

424 



Index 



509 



Winter, William, at Pfaff's, 189 
Wolcott, Gov. Oliver, wife and 

daughter of, make bullets, 23 
Wood, Fernando, 212; at Union Sq. 
meeting, 227; house of, on Bloom- 
ingdale Road, 274; 381 
Wood, JNlrs. John, manager, 214 
Woodlawn, roadhouse, 295 
Woodworth, Samuel, 155 
Wool worth Building, 137, 138 
Worden, R. -Admiral John L., 

Moriitor-Merrimac fight, 385 
Worth, Gen. Wm. J., funeral, 82; 
body lies in state, 118; monu- 
ment, 244, 245, 246; birthplace at 
Hudson, 459 
Wurtz, Lieut., Hessian commander, 

361 

Y 

Yates, Robert, opposes adoption 
of Federal Constitution, 426 



Yonkers, called de Jonkheer's land, 
345; origin of name, 346; Indian 
Nepperhaem, 346; township of, 
349; town of Kingsbridge formed 
from, 350; trolley line to, 350; 
recent development in, 355; be- 
comes a city, 359; its industries, 
359; Hog Hill, 360; British post, 
364; homes of literary people, 
368, 369; anchorage of Henry 
Hudson, 388 



Zaas,kill, de, Dutch name of Nep- 

perhan R., 359 
Zantberg, range of sand hills across 

Manhattan I., 178 
"Zealandia, " bastion at land gate, 

9; discovery of foundations of, 

10 








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George Sheldon ; Newport, by Susan Coolidge ; Providence, by 

William B. Weeden ; Hartford, by Mary K. Talcott ; New 

Haven, by Frederick Hull Cogswell. 

" These monographs have permanent literary and historical value. They 
are from the pens of authors who are saturated with their themes, and do not 
write to order, but con a7nore. The beautiful letterpress adds greatly to the 
attractiveness of the book." — The Watchvian. 

" The authors of the Boston papers have succeeded in presenting a wonderfully 
interesting account in which none of the more important events have been 
omitted. . . . the quaint Cape Cod towns that have clung tenaciously tr 
their old-fashioned ways are described with a characteristic vividness by Miss 
Ba'es. . . . The other papers are presented in a delightfully attractive 
manner that will serve to make more deeply cherished the memory of the places 
described." — Neiu York Tintjs. 



Historic Towns of the Middle States 

Edited by Lyman P. Powell. With introduction by 
Dr. Albert Shaw. Wit j 135 illustrations. Large 

8°, gilt top net %2, 00 

Contents : Albany, by W. W. Battershall ; Saratoga, by 
Ellen H. Walworth ; Schenectady, by Judson S. Landon ; New- 
burgh, by Adelaide Skeel ; Tarry town, by H. W. Mabie ; Brook- 
lyn, by Harrington Putnam ; New York, by J. B. Gilder ; Buffalo, 
by Rowland B. Mahany ; Pittsburgh, by S. H. Church ; Phila- 
delphia, by Talcott Williams ; Princeton, by W. M. Sloane ; 
Wilmington, by E. N. Vallandigham. 

" Mr. Powell's contributors have prepared a most interesting collection of 
papers on important landmarks of the Middle States. The writers enter into th« 
history of their respective towns with much elaborateness." — N. Y. Tribune, 



O. p. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London 



Historic Towns of the Southern States 

Edited by Lyman P. Powell. With introduction by 
W. P. Trent. With about 175 illustrations. Large 
8°, gilt top net $3 00 

Contents : Baltimore, By St. George L. Sioussat ; Annapolis 
and Frederick, by Sara Andrew Shafer ; Washington, by F. A. 
Vanderlip ; Richmond, by William Wirt Henry ; Williamsburg, 
by Lyon G. Tyler; Wilmington, N. C, by J. B. Cheshire; 
Charlestown, by Yates Snowden ; Savannah, by Pleasant A. 
Stoval ; St, Augustine, by G. R. Fairbanks ; Mobile, by Peter 
J. Hamilton ; Montgomery, by George Petrie ; New Orleans, 
by Grace King ; Vicksburg, by H. F. Simrall ; Knoxville, by 
Joshua W. Caldwell ; Nashville, by Gates P. Thruston ; Louis- 
ville, by Lucien V. Rule ; Little Rock, by George B. Rose. 

" This very charming volume is so exquisitely gotten up, the scheme is so 
perfect, the seventeen writers have done their work with such historical accuracy 
and with such literary skill, the illustrations are so abundant and so artistic, that 
all must rejoice that Mr. Powell ever attempted to make the historical pilgrim- 
ages." — yournal o/ Education. 



Historic Towns of the Western States 

Edited by Lyman P. Powell. With introduction by 
R. G. Thwaites. With 218 illustrations. Large 8°, 
gilt top. (By mail $3.25) . . . net $3 00 

Contents : Detroit, by Silas Farmer ; Chicago, by Hon. Lyman 
T. Gage; St. Louis, by F. M. Crunden ; Monterey, by Harold 
Bake; San Francisco, by Edwin Markham; Portland, by Rev. 
Thomas L. Cole ; Madison, by Prof. R. G. Thwaites ; Kansas 
City, by Charles S. Gleed ; Cleveland, by President Charles F. 
Thwing ; Cincinnati, by Hon. M. E. Ailes ; Marietta, by Muriel 
C. Dyar ; Des Moines, by Dr. F. I. Herriot ; Indianapolis, by 
Hon. Perry S. Heath ; Denver, by J. C. Dana ; Omaha, by Dr. 
Victor Rosewater ; Los Angeles, by Florence E. Winslow ; Salt 
Lake City, by Prof. James E. Talmage ; Minneapolis and St. 
Paul, by Hon. Charles B. Elliott ; Santa F6, by Dr. F. W, 
Hodge ; Vincennes, by W. H. Smith. 



Q. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London 



Literary New York 

Its Landmarks and Associations 
By Charles Hemstreet 

800. With 65 Illustrations, $1.75 net 
i^y mail, $1.95) 

The subject of Historic New York is a fas- 
cinating one, and this book, written by a well- 
known authority, and embellished with many 
new and artistic illustrations, will appeal to a 
wide circle of readers. Mr. Hemstreet's de- 
scriptions and traditions cluster around the great 
literary figures who have been associated with 
old New York. The book contains much that 
is valuable, and in its charming form is well 
suited for presentation, and also deserves a place 
in every library. 

Chronicles of Tarrytown 
and Sleepy Hollow 

By Edgar Mayhew Bacon 

Author of " The Hudson River," " Narragansctt 
Bay," etc. 

/ 6mo. Revised Edition, gilt top. With / 9 Illustra- 
tions and a Map, $ 1 .25 net. {B\) mad $1.35) 

" The author has well performed an agree- 
able task, for the material is abundant and the 
charm of it wonderfully appealing to men of 
imagination and historical interest. The illus- 
trations bring out the spirit of the locality." 

The Outlook. 

New York G. P. Putnam's Sons London 



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